Manila is one of the five most polluted cities in the world, and a paint company recently decided to try a unique approach to combatting airborne toxins; in the video above, Tara Cleary at Reuters reports that Boysen commissioned a group of artists to use a special smog-eating paint on one of the main highways in the city. The paint, called Boysen KNOxOUT, is made up of modified titanium dioxide molecules that neutralize noxious gases when they are exposed to sunlight.
Finnish artist and filmmaker Tapio Snellman designed one of the pieces on display. "I hope there's going to be many more paintings like this," he says. "Not just in Manila, but around the world, because there's a huge need of air-cleaning paintings and there's a huge need of visual stimulation."
Snellman's painting is over 3,000 feet long and adjoins the Cubao/Aurora Underpass, which is an incredibly busy crossing point in the city. His work joins other 10-foot-high murals along the 15 mile highway, which will all help to reduce . However, Boysen's Vice President John Ongking says that we need to go further to combat pollution: "The best solution is to reduce pollutants coming out of our cars."