Coca-Cola Philippines builds first billboard made of plants

Coca-Cola Philippines in cooperation with World Wide Fund (WWF) has embarked on a campaign to reduce pollution in the congested Metropolitan Manila cities of more than 11 million people by installing a 60'x60' billboard that absorbs air pollution.

The pollution-absorbent billboard launched last week, is made with Fukien tea plants embedded in more than 3000 discarded bottles of Coca-Cola. The plants, which are known to absorb air pollutants, are spread across the billboard leaving only enough space for the Coca-Cola bottle which is the product being advertised in the giant billboard. According to Guillermo Aponte, President of Coca-Cola Philippines, the billboard is the first to be built in the country that make use of live plants as cover for its surface. “This billboard also makes use of recyclable materials. A total of 3,600 pots were used in the billboard, recycling old bottles of various Coca-Cola products,” he said. The live plants survives on a "drip irrigation system" where water mixed with growth nutrients is dispensed slowly to the roots of the plants. “This (billboard) innovative contribution to the greening of the environment is a salient reminder for Filipinos to take an active hand in protecting and saving Mother Earth,” Aponte said. “It’s an embodiment of our pledge to protect and preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth and the health of our ecological systems,” he said. Botanist Antonio Gao who works with WFFPhilippines said the billboard can be an effective anti air pollution tool as it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. "This billboard helps alleviate air pollution within its proximate areas as it can absorb a total of 46,800 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, on estimate,"he said.