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Edmonton company markets bottled Banff air online

Bottled air and oxygen products available from Vitality Air. Credit: Vitality Air

EDMONTON — For as little as $13, you can now buy 80 breaths of “fresh Banff air” in a bottle.

That’s what an Edmonton company promises on its website, which also features bottles of air from Lake Louise and of “premium” oxygen.

“We just wanted to start a business that was cool and that helped people at the same time,” said Moses Lam, a University of Alberta business graduate who founded Vitality Air in 2014 with Troy Paquette, a former commercial diver.

The pair had previously tried to sell a Ziploc bag of mountain air on eBay. It didn’t get much love. However, their second offering sold for $160 US.

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Now, they’re selling an average of 300 bottles a month.

“There’s a huge demand for fresh air…They’re going to Israel; we’ve had them shipped to Turkey … even to Calgary.”

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READ MORE: Smoke causes air quality to hit top of health risk scale in Calgary 

He said the bottling process is tedious and can take up to 10 hours just to capture quality air.

The company has distributors in Edmonton and two locations in Banff. Three months ago, they started selling online.

“Oxygen in a can!” the website reads. “Helps to boost oxygen content in your body!”

READ MORE: Edmonton air pollution over last day equal to 40 minutes in car with smoker: online tool 

For the last several days, much of central and southern Alberta have been seeing and feeling the effects of wildfires in Washington State.

Air Quality advisories have been issued for both Calgary and Edmonton, with Calgary’s peaking at 11 on the 10-point scale.

“Initially, we didn’t even think of the smog,” Lam said. “In North America, we take this fresh air for granted.”

A portion of online sales from now until Nov. 30 will be donated to the Red Cross to help fight wildfires in B.C., he added.

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