CHIGASAKI, KANAGAWA PREFECTURE (Reuters) – Running her hands through the fine sand at the Chigasaki Headland beach, Naomi Arimoto chances upon something familiar.
“This is a piece of the artificial lawn that is put in gardens in Japan. There’s always a lot of this lying around,” said the 42-year-old Japanese manicurist, holding a slim piece of green plastic between her thumb and forefinger before dropping it into a sieve.
Arimoto visits the beach near her home south of Tokyo every month to gather microplastics that other cleaners might miss and mould them into decorative tips to put on false nails at her salon. She came up with the idea after taking part in community cleanups along the coast.
“I saw with my own eyes just how much plastic waste was in the ocean, I thought it was horrifying," she said.
Arimoto opened a nail salon in her home in 2018 after a spinal condition forced her to give up her career as a social worker, and she's been using Umigomi, or "sea trash," to make nail art since 2021.
To turn sea trash into treasure, Arimoto starts by rinsing the plastic in fresh water and then sorting it by colour. She cuts the plastic into smaller pieces and places them into a metal ring before melting the plastic to form a colourful disc that can be attached to artificial nails. Prices for a set start at 12,760 yen ($82.52).
"I hope that by putting these in front of people's eyes, on their fingertips, they'll enjoy fashion while also becoming more aware of environmental issue," said Arimoto.
But while raising awareness of the problem is one thing, Arimoto acknowledged that her work is a drop in an ocean of plastic pollution.
An estimated 20 million tonnes of plastic waste is dumped into the environment each year, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A United Nations summit in Busan, South Korea, starting on Nov. 25 aims to craft a landmark treaty that would set global caps on plastic production.
"I think (plastic waste in the ocean) is an issue that every single person in the world needs to be aware of, there's no way to solve it alone," said Arimoto.