Alberta company bottling air from Canadian Rockies and selling it worldwide
An Alberta startup is taking advantage of one of the province's most prized natural resources — and it's not oil.
The company is bottling and selling fresh air from the Rocky Mountains.
"It's a long and tedious process, you know. We sit in Banff for about 10 hours capturing the air and then after that we bring it back and we have to fill it into these bottles individually," said Vitality Air co-founder, Moses Lam.
Lam admits he and his business partner, Troy Paquette, started the company as a bit of a joke when the pair put a Ziploc bag filled with air on eBay.
"Literally we waved it and then we sealed it up and taped it up," said Lam.
The bag sold after a month for 99 cents, but a second Ziploc earned them $168 US.
In the last three months, since they launched their online store, Lam says they've sold about 900 bottles.
"Our target market is China, India and Dubai, the world's most populated cities," he said, However, they also have customers in Turkey, Taiwan, Israel and even Alberta.
"It's even gone down to Calgary, even though Banff is at their doorstep," said Paquette.
One bottle, which cost $15 a pop, contains about 150 inhalations and comes with an oxygen mask.
Lam says a portion of all web sales from now until Nov. 30 will be donated to the Red Cross to help with wildfire relief in British Columbia.
