Jordan's Plastic Trash Turned into Art with a Message

Maria Nissan turns plastic waste collected from the streets of Jordan's capital into art in an effort to persuade people against single-use plastics Khalil MAZRAAWI AFP
Maria Nissan turns plastic waste collected from the streets of Jordan's capital into art in an effort to persuade people against single-use plastics Khalil MAZRAAWI AFP
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Jordan's Plastic Trash Turned into Art with a Message

Maria Nissan turns plastic waste collected from the streets of Jordan's capital into art in an effort to persuade people against single-use plastics Khalil MAZRAAWI AFP
Maria Nissan turns plastic waste collected from the streets of Jordan's capital into art in an effort to persuade people against single-use plastics Khalil MAZRAAWI AFP

Jordan-based artist Maria Nissan is on a mission: to rid the world of single-use plastics and to raise public awareness about the environmental scourge through eye-catching art.

One of her best-known murals graces the side of a building in the capital Amman, a giant work made from more than 2,000 plastic bottles, almost 1,000 shopping bags and over 150 hookah pipe hoses, AFP said.

A US citizen of Iraqi origin, Nissan said she became enchanted with Amman when she first visited three years ago, but also felt "frustration and anger" at the piles of garbage on the streets and in areas of natural beauty.

"Despite the beauty of the city, walking its streets can be a journey filled with all kinds of trash," the 35-year-old said.

"My eyes cannot turn away from the abundant shiny plastic bags, glass bottles, soda cans, candy bar wrappers," said Nissan, who occasionally sports a dress made from a sturdy blue Ikea bag.

Trained in painting and drawing in the United States and Italy, Nissan decided to collect and repurpose the trash to create art -- often collages themed on women's faces, flowers and Oriental motifs.

Her home, where she has a rooftop workspace under a large canopy, is filled with every imaginable kind of discarded plastic object, from razors and toothbrushes to lighters, pens and plastic spoons.

"Art made of plastic is a concrete and powerful way to raise concerns on environmental issues that affect Jordanians, their children, their communities and natural environments in the kingdom," she said.

- 'Everybody's problem' -
"A bottle littered in a valley will take up to 450 years to decompose," said Nissan, pointing out that the effect is "micro-plastics polluting the soils, water and the wildlife.

"Because plastics are littered indiscriminately in fields and water, livestock and fish feed themselves indirectly with plastic pieces that we will ultimately find on our plates."

Nissan's work has been exhibited in 12 shows in Jordan as well as in Italy and Greece, and features on her Instagram channel @marianissanart, all with the purpose of changing minds and habits.

Jordanians use three billion plastic bags every year, part of the country's annual solid waste load of 2.2 million tons, of which only seven percent is recycled, according to the UN Development Program.

Nissan urges people to avoid buying plastic products and to go shopping with reusable bags, and also advocates a tax on single-use plastics.

"The consequences of single-use plastic pollution are often delayed, and therefore it is difficult to have people feel accountable and responsible for their own acts," she said.

"Plastic comes back to us in one way or another ... It's nobody's responsibility until it becomes everybody's problem."



Scientists in Japan Develop Plastic that Dissolves in Seawater within Hours 

A researcher shows a sample of ocean-degradable plastic at the Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) of Japanese research institution Riken in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, Japan May 27, 2025. (Reuters) 
A researcher shows a sample of ocean-degradable plastic at the Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) of Japanese research institution Riken in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, Japan May 27, 2025. (Reuters) 
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Scientists in Japan Develop Plastic that Dissolves in Seawater within Hours 

A researcher shows a sample of ocean-degradable plastic at the Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) of Japanese research institution Riken in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, Japan May 27, 2025. (Reuters) 
A researcher shows a sample of ocean-degradable plastic at the Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) of Japanese research institution Riken in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, Japan May 27, 2025. (Reuters) 

Researchers in Japan have developed a plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours, offering up a potential solution for a modern-day scourge polluting oceans and harming wildlife.

While scientists have long experimented with biodegradable plastics, researchers from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and the University of Tokyo say their new material breaks down much more quickly and leaves no residual trace.

At a lab in Wako city near Tokyo, the team demonstrated a small piece of plastic vanishing in a container of salt water after it was stirred up for about an hour.

While the team has not yet detailed any plans for commercialization, project lead Takuzo Aida said their research has attracted significant interest, including from those in the packaging sector.

Scientists worldwide are racing to develop innovative solutions to the growing plastic waste crisis, an effort championed by awareness campaigns such as World Environment Day taking place on June 5.

Plastic pollution is set to triple by 2040, the UN Environment Program has predicted, adding 23-37 million metric tons of waste into the world's oceans each year.

"Children cannot choose the planet they will live on. It is our duty as scientists to ensure that we leave them with best possible environment," Aida said.

Aida said the new material is as strong as petroleum-based plastics, but breaks down into its original components when exposed to salt. Those components can then be further processed by naturally occurring bacteria, thereby avoiding generating microplastics that can harm aquatic life and enter the food chain. As salt is also present in soil, a piece about five centimeters (two inches) in size disintegrates on land after over 200 hours, he added.

The material can be used like regular plastic when coated, and the team are focusing their current research on the best coating methods, Aida said. The plastic is non-toxic, non-flammable, and does not emit carbon dioxide, he added.