A breath of fresh air
STRUCTURE DESIGNED TO FILTER OUT DAMAGING POLLUTION
ENGLAND’S first pollution-busting “moss tree” has been installed in Newcastle city centre.
The unusual structure, which was put up at Haymarket on Thursday, is designed to purify air in the city centre.
It will also create opportunities for research into the benefits of the plant’s natural filtering abilities.
Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) has been working on the plans since July 2017 and reached an agreement with Newcastle City Council to install the tree at the Haymarket, close to the city’s bus interchange and busy main roads.
The moss cultures involved in the “tree” have the ability to filter certain pollutants by binding them to the leaf surface and then integrating them permanently into their own biomass.
This makes them ideal air purifiers.
The moss is built into the ‘moss tree’ structure, which provides the water – largely harvested from the rain – and the shade the moss needs to survive, creating a combination of technology and nature.
The results will be made available for universities on an ongoing basis, to feed into their own research on tackling pollution.
Built-in sensors will gather information on pollution including nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide, as well as monitoring air humidity, temperature and rainfall.
Nigel Watson, Northumbrian Water’s group director of information services, said: “The Newcastle moss tree is a fantastic opportunity to explore a truly innovative way of tackling pollution and sharing the findings with people who can take the concept and expand upon the value it brings to the environment.” Coun Arlene Ainsley, cabinet member for transport and air quality at Newcastle City Council, said: “It’s wonderful that we will have England’s first ‘moss tree’ here in Newcastle and I look forward to seeing how the information it will provide can be used to inform ways in which we can improve air quality. “In Newcastle, as in many cities, poor air quality is having a significant impact on our health, wellbeing and quality of life. “We have to tackle this. “One of the main things we need to do is look at how we travel and, where possible, make fewer journeys by car.”
It’s wonderful that we will have England’s first ‘moss tree’ here in Newcastle Coun Arlene Ainsley