Fuss-Free

One woman’s journey to a zero-waste lifestyle

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Mariska Nell is spinning around her living room in a dress. However this dress wouldn’t make it onto most catwalks, given that it is see-through, groaning with trash and weighs, she says, “about 65kg, fully-filled – it gives me serious backache”.

The dress is not, of course, really meant for the Milan runways. It is instead the embodiment of the modern consumer – realised in one rather ugly garment. “There’s a guy called Rob Greenfield who had a challenge called Trash Me, where he wore a suit created by his own trash,” says Mariska, now de-frocked and curled up on a couch at her apartment in Dubai. “I saw it and thought, this is unbelievable. We have to try this.” Nell and fellow Dubai resident Marita Peters made up their own version of the challenge, with Marita wearing the waste created by an eco-conscious citizen whilst Nell created the average daily waste of a global citizen – up to three kilograms. They stuck together, but made different choices. At cafes, Peters opted for ceramics or brought her own reusable cups, while Nell got lattes in a take-away. As a dedicated zero-waste consumer, it proved a difficult change.