Mexican company combats pollution, urban glut with vertical green spaces

Global Business

Mexican company combats pollution, urban glut with vertical green spaces

A company in Mexico City is working to build vertical green spaces to combat pollution and create beauty.

CCTV America’s Franc Contreras reports from Mexico City.

In one of the world’s largest urban centers, the consequences of human activity are plain to see.

Virtually every square meter of Mexico City is covered by concrete or asphalt. Smog is almost always heavy in the air.

Amid the urban onslaught, residents are getting some relief from a company called Verde Vertical, or Vertical Green, which builds gardens in unlikely places.

A bridge is now covered with green columns filled with plants, making it a standout in a once notorious part of the city known fir heavy traffic and its almost entirely grey landscape.

Mexico City has 20 million people and vertical gardens produce oxygen and help filter the heavy metals and dust from the air.

“It’s very relaxing and motivating. It’s as though they brought bit of the countryside here to the city. I like it very much,” said resident Laura Valdez Bautista.

Recycled plastic bottles are transformed into a green cloth-like material that holds the plants. Meanwhile recycled toothpaste tubes are used to create the structure’s back panel.

Verde Vertical founder Fernando Ortiz says his team built more than 400 projects in public spaces around the Mexican capital.

Computers control their irrigation and plant nutrition systems.

“We’ve made it so that green columns have sensors. Through the internet, the sensors measure water levels, light, temperatures and soil nutrition levels. We remotely control and can correct these environmental conditions so the plants can grow,” Ortiz said.

Advertising helps pay for cost for these projects, and residents say they hope many more are created.

“I think this idea of creating green spaces very important because we really need it,” resident Humberto Alvarez said.

Verde Vertical says city governments worldwide are eyeing their project, which provides aesthetic improvements while also improving the environment.


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