Giant air purifier turns smog into jewelry

A massive purifier was installed in the Netherlands to absorb air pollution in urban parks. The Smog Tower was based on air filtering technology used in hospitals. But unlike regular air filters, this one turns smog into rings and cufflinks.

“On one hand we’re sort of disgusted by it,” said Daan Roosegarde, the tower’s designer “But on the other hand became fascinated. Like, this is not waste, you know, because waste in the future should not exist. And looking at this, and realizing that 42 percent of this exists out of carbon, and carbon, under high pressure, you get diamonds.”

The ‘gems’ or Smog Cubes are actually compressed black smog encased in a transparent cube. Each cube contains pollution sucked from 1,300 yards of air. The cubes are on sale on Kickstarter as part of the campaign.

“In areas affected by severe air pollution, the Smog Free Tower will harvest enough smog to produce over 3500 Smog Free Cubes per day. A total of 1 million Smog Free Cubes will be made to support the message of The Smog Free Movement. The Smog Free Cubes are first of all developed to make sure the Smog Free Tower produces no waste. All the smog we collect, is processed into a Smog Free Cube and turned into an exclusive piece of jewelry. The Smog Free Movement stands for a better and cleaner future we can create together. The Smog Free Cubes are the building blocks of that future.” said the Kickstarter page.

Roosegarde ‘s aim is for the Smog Tower to travel around the world, from city to city.

The Kickstarted page said “From Beijing to Paris. From Los Angeles to Mexico City. The tower lets citizens experience the value of breathing clean air. The Smog Free Tower is the first step in working together to free cities permanently of smog. Together we can fight air pollution.”