Clean Air For Sale? Canada Now Selling Air to China?

You've probably heard how some areas in China are choking from record-level air pollution. As such, residents in those regions must be in dire need of clean air.

Enter Canadian start-up Vitality Air, which sells bottled air at a ski resort. The company recently revealed that a huge bulk of its demand come from China.

"The first batch of 500 canisters filled with fresh air from the Rocky Mountain town of Banff went on sale in China last month and sold out within two weeks," CNN reported. "The air sells for $14 to $20, depending on the size of the canister."

"We're taking lots of pre orders for our upcoming shipment," Harrison Wang, the head of the company's China operations, told CNN. "We're getting close to the 1,000 mark."

For a company selling something motivated by good old fun, this development appeared to be an unlikely one that may very well be its catalyst to business success.

According to the company's co-founder, Moses Lam, it was just last year when he sold a ziplocked bag filled with air on eBay for 99 cents. A second bag was sold for $122.

These attempts sparked the Vitality Air idea. And now he is busy filling in orders and running the fledgling business. He logs 10 hours just bottling air, traveling for four hours to Banff every few weeks to fulfill that task.

"It's time consuming because every one of these bottles is hand bottled," Lam explained. "We're dealing with fresh air, we want it to be fresh and we don't want to run it through machines which are oiled and greased."

In Canada, the product is seen as a novelty item. However, in China, Vitality Air is an everyday essential.

"Clearly, the issue of clean air is incredibly important in countries or cities afflicted by severe pollution, so it is no great surprise to see Vitality Air selling well in the Chinese market," noted Kantar Retail SVP Bryan Roberts, as quoted by CNBC. "Regardless of the efficacy of the product as a solution, one can only admire entrepreneurs that have created a high growth business on this need, or perceived need."

Through its website, the people behind Vitality Air said that the demand for their product made them appreciate "the clean, pure and refreshing taste of quality water," as well as air.

However, Hong Kong Polytechnic University professor Wallace Leung said that the bottled air isn't a viable solution to the air pollution in China as particle filtration is needed.

"One bottle of air wouldn't help. I would be very cautious," Leung told CNN.

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