Earthshot Prize – Air Cleaning Paint Focus

If you don’t already know, this year (2021) was the first year of the Earthshot Prize. Prince William founded the Earthshot Prize to help repair our planet. There are five award categories and the winner of each receives a grant of £1 million to continue their environmental work.

We were really pleased to see one of our eco paint brands, Airlite, featured in the BBC Episode of inspiring solutions within the “Clean our Air” Earthshot Category. You can catch the full episode on iPlayer (Airlite is 36 minutes 40 seconds into the program) or watch the clip in the Earthshot BBC video below.

Artist Paola Delfín has been painting murals with Airlite paint in Mexico City.

“My works talks about the connection between people, land, nature and their roots.”

Airlite paint works photocatalytically to neutralise harmful air pollutants including NOx (Nitrogen Oxides) and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) that are harmful to human health. It therefore has the same effect as a forest of tall trees. 100 square meters of Airlite eliminates the same pollution as 100 square meters of forest.

“It’s like you are planting trees at the same time as painting” says Delfín.

Unfortunately, the murals did not make it to the finals for the Clean Our Air Earthshot, but you can find out about the finalists and winners on the Earthshot Prize website.

Here in the UK, Celtic Sustainables are proud to be the only retail shop selling Airlite paints. As a specialist paint outlet we are trusted by Airlite to advise end users on the preparation and use of the paint. Airlite paints are primarily sold to professional traders on typically large projects where they have been specified by an Architech, however we can also provide the paint in smaller quantities.

In the UK, indoor air quality can be many times worse than outdoors. The average person spends over 90% of their time indoors. The good news is that the interior Airlite paint works in the same way as the exterior paint – using sunlight (or sunlight bulbs) to activate air purifying properties of the paint.

Currently only available to purchase online as an air cleaning interior white paint. We are working with Airlite to find an easy way to create indoor coloured Airlite paint. In the meantime, please contact us if coloured Airlite paint for interior walls is of interest to you.

If you are inspired by the Earthshot Prize and Paola Delfin’s murals to use Airlite paint on exterior walls (for murals or plain walls), please contact us for further information.