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Writer's pictureCecilia

Interview with Mariska Nell - Artist and Founder of Waste Me Not & Host of MamaEarthTalk Podcast.


I met across Mariska a couple of years ago when our family started an environmental initiative that we called the “Seacarers”. As we are an ocean loving family we decided to do activities with our children to teach them about the seas and the oceans and the impact of climate change and pollution. We printed t- shirts and had little beach clean ups and co created events with the childrens school and the Swedish nursery in Dubai. It was good not only for the boys and their friends but in many ways for us as adults too. We learnt a lot and we came to establish relationships with some pretty amazing people who are passionate about saving the planet and who really work hard to create awareness and fight for the environment. Mariska was one of those incredible people who has been one of my sounding boards when I have questions about environmental issues and sustainability. The South African interior designer and environmentalist, uses her artistic talents to create awareness about pollution and climate change by“ turning trash into treasure “ and also consults companies on how to live a "zero waste life."



First of all Mariska, how long have you been in Dubai and what brought you here ?


Mariska: I first move to Dubai in 2010. My husband got a wonderful opportunity and we decided to take on the adventure and make the move. We only stayed in Dubai for a year before moving to Australia, but in 2013 we moved back to Dubai. In total we have been living in Dubai now for 7 years. We are currently living between Dubai and Australia.


What do you love most about Dubai ?


Mariska: That anything is possible. It is a city that is aiming high and that is so unique. I love how they take on opportunities and making dreams possible.


How did you become so passionate about environmental issues ?


Mariska: I started exploring with trash in my artwork and as I was learning more about the "medium. I learnt more about how some of these materials were affecting our environment. Once I have become more aware of these issues and seen some of the effects, I could not "unlearn" or "unsee" it and it made me want to change whatever I could to have less of an impact on the environment.



You live a so called “zero waste lifestyle”. Can you tell us more about how that is possible ?


Mariska: It is really about following what I call the 5 R's (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot) and to really think about the stuff that you bring into your house and to find more sustainable options for the items that you can not refuse, reduce or reduce. Starting to compost was really the key to ditching our bin entirely. We still have a few items that ends up in the recycle bin every now and then, but we aim to send nothing to a landfill.


You also consult others on how to reduce their waste. Do you feel that there a lot of interest here in the UAE on how to live a more sustainable life ?


Mariska: Yes there is a big interest. This was the reason why I started the podcast. To help more people and companies and provide them with tips on how they could live more sustainable and to also run their companies with the environment in mind. There are really a lot of people that want to make a change.


Art is such a powerful tool to use when you want to communicate something. I remember you showing up in various places with your very special plastic waste dress. Can you tell us more about that dress and what it represents ? What was the reaction from people when they saw you and what lessons did they learn ? What else have you designed to create awareness and how has it been recieved ?


Mariska: The dress was part of the "Waste Me Challenge". I lived like the average global citizen trying to make between 2-3 kg of waste every single day. Instead of throwing the waste away, I would wash it and place it in my dress. After 30 days the dress and my trolley had close to 65kg of waste. That is just one person for 30 days. I wanted people to see what their waste looks like and what it would look like if there was no away and we had to take responsibility for every piece of waste we make.

People were shocked as my waste in a way represented their waste and there were many questions on how they could reduce their waste.

I have designed a lot of different artwork over the last few years to create more awareness. Some of them included "The Last Straw Project" which was a 2x2x2m globe that was made out of 60,000 single-use plastic straws. This was to raise awareness to reduce our straw usage and also to phase out Costa Coffee's last single-use straws in the UAE.

I also created an art piece for Adrian Grenier made of straws to represent their #StopSucking campaign and "A Million Bottles Per Minute" is a series of art pieces that I created to illustrate how water enters our houses in the UAE (Pipework or plastic bottle). The title was based on the statistic that was the number of plastic bottles being sold globally per minute.

There has been many other campaigns and piece with Azraq, Kris Fade, Surge for Water and many more.


Who buys your art ?


Mariska: I work mainly on commission pieces and my clients includes large organisations that wants to work on a specific message or campaign. I have also done many commission pieces for people from all over the world. My pieces can be found in the collection of South African comedian and The Daily Show Host, Trevor Noah, Actor and Environmentalist, Adrian Grenier, Entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuck, Kris Fade, a radio presenter for the Kris Fade radio show on Virgin Radio Dubai, Black Coffee a world-renowned DJ and producer and NBA basketball player Mason Plumlee.



As a parent I really fear what the future brings for my children and grandchildren when it comes to climate change. I feel hope knowing that there are so many people trying very hard to live more sustainably and that there are so many good forces working tirelessly aiming for change. I just feel that although it matters what every one of us does - big change needs to come from above in terms of legislations and decision making. How do you see things developing ? What are the biggest changes that you think need to happen in order to really turn things around ?


Mariska : There is still a lot that needs to be done and yes legislation needs to change, but we also need to realise how much power we have as consumers. I think that if there are organisations that are providing products or services that are not in line with our values or that is harming the environment, that we need to speak up. We vote with our money every day and I think we should rather spend our money on products and services that are in line with our values. If you use to shop at a local store and they refuse for you to use your reusable bags, in a polite way let the management know that this is why you no longer shop there. If enough people do this, companies and the government will have to change.

Do you think Covid has affected the way we look at the world ?


Mariska :Yes, it has really made me take stock of a lot of things. I think it made us look at nature in a different way. When the world was locked down, people longed to be outdoors and to be in nature. You are seeing more people now want to spend time in nature that they did not do previously. A lot more people are moving into places, where they can also grow their own food, have their own chickens and just go back to nature. I do hope that this connection with nature will stay with us and make us more aware of our daily habits and how we can change them to have less of an impact on the environment.


What are your current projects that you work on now ?


Mariska: There are many existing things coming for 2021 and I will be sharing more in the next coming weeks. I am working hard on the Mama Earth Talk Podcast to provide my audience with the best episodes. There will be more art campaigns and I will also do more tutorials or DIY's. There is also a few great collaborations that are in the pipeline too. We are also building a tiny house off the grid to reduce our footprint even more.


Where can we reach you if we want coaching on how to live a more sustainable life ?


The best would be to reach out to me is on Instagram, Facebook or on the website at the contact page. I also have a free e-book that everyone can download to provide them with some tips on how to start with a sustainable lifestyle. The podcast also has some great tips and guest as well.





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