This billboard can help clean the Pasig River

by Karmela Tordecilla

 

Metro Manila is no stranger to interesting and controversial billboards, but a beauty company has upped the billboard game by helping clean the Pasig River.

A Japanese company that makes natural personal care products, Shokobutsu Hana created a floating billboard that can suck out pollution from the river, which was pronounced biologically dead in the 1990’s.

Hana worked with ad agency TBWA/SMP, the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, and Vetiver Farms Philippines for the campaign.

The 88-foot billboard, which spells “CLEAN RIVER SOON,” is made from vetiver, a non-invasive grass that can absorb nitrates, phosphates, heavy metals, and other toxic pollutants.

Mounted at Estero San Miguel in Sampaloc, Manila last February, the billboard is capable of cleaning 2,000 to 8,000 gallons of water every day.

There are plans to replicate the eco-friendly installation along other areas of the Pasig River.