Can This Plant Really Reduce Toxins In Your Home by 85 Percent?

A Kickstarter company called Clairy has come up with an ingenious method of removing everyday toxins from an indoor environment. Clairy have harnessed the natural power of plants to clean up the air in their immediate vicinity and enhanced it by using technology to create an air filter which is apparently capable of removing 85% of toxins from the home environment.

The study was carried out by Pnat, a think tank of biologists and designers from the University of Florence, lending an air of legitimacy to Clairy’s claims and an excitement to the capabilities of their filtration system.

An Underestimated Home-grown Problem

When most people think about air pollution, they’re concerned about car exhaust fumes and factory cooling towers. They rarely think of their own homes – the place where they regularly spend the majority of their time – as being a dangerous hotbed of pollutants.

However, a 2012 study found that indoor air pollution can be as many as three times more noxious than external air, with more premature deaths being caused by indoor air pollution than outdoor air pollution, as well. Prolonged exposure to these contaminants can cause ailments as serious as heart disease, lung failure and cancer, as well as more short-term niggling concerns like sore throats and irritated eyes.

As such, cleaning up the air inside our own homes is a very real and immediate concern. Clairy have sought to address this by using Mother Nature’s own powers in tandem with the advances made by technology.

A Natural Solution

NASA recently published a list of the top 10 air-cleaning plants which are capable of removing harmful toxins from the atmosphere in a natural manner. Clairy has capitalised upon this and enhanced the abilities of a single plant by placing them in pots that are specially fitted with a fan. This fan sucks air into the pot and pushes it through the soil, acting as a natural filter for some of the nastiest contaminants found in our homes, like benzene, formaldehyde and others.

Clairy is also currently developing a unique brand of soil which will enhance the filter’s capabilities even further, pushing the pollutant removal percentage up from 85% to 93%. In addition to this, the filter also comes equipped with air quality monitors and a downloadable app, allowing owners to see exactly how effective the device has been in their home by checking their Smartphones.

“We really think the air we breathe is very important — that's why we want to monitor it and actively eliminate toxic agents. Indoor pollution is a big problem,” said Paolo Ganis to TechInsider. Paolo is the co-founder of Clairy and CEO of the company. “The best thing I think is we have a green spirit. People can understand that you can get the same results with products that are helped by nature.”

It is perhaps this green spirit which has allowed Clairy to surpass its Kickstarter target of $100,000 by 50% with a full week to spare. The product is expected to become commercially available in January 2017 and will retail at $199 per unit.