Reduce the Impact of Global Warming… With your Outfit!

A revolutionary new laundry additive can actually help to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The new revolution in cleaning the air comes thanks to a unique collaboration between the University of Sheffield and the London College of Fashion. The laundry additive, called CatClo, helps to remove nitrogen oxide from the air. Clothing only needs to be washed in the CatClo additive once to be an effective air filter.

How it works

Professor Tony Ryan OBE of the University of Sheffield explains that CatClo contains particles of titanium dioxide. These react with the nitrogen oxide particles to neutralize them. When you next wash your clothing, the neutralized nitrogen oxide is harmlessly rinsed out. The titanium dioxide forms a very strong bond to the fabric, so it stays in place and continues to work through multiple washes.

In an average day, a person wearing an outfit containing CatClo will be able to remove about 5g of nitrogen oxide from the air – which is the same amount the average car produces in a day.

Positive environmental impact

“If thousands of people in a typical town used the additive, the result would be a significant improvement in local air quality”, says Professor Ryan. “This additive creates the potential for community action to deliver a real environmental benefit that could actually help to cut disease and save lives. In Sheffield, for instance, if everyone washed their clothes in the additive, there would be no pollution problem caused by nitrogen oxides at all.”

Both CatClo and nitrogen oxide are said to have no harmful effects on both the wearer and their clothing. This means the solution to global warming and climate change might be as simple as getting dressed in the morning.