London’s New Biotech Tree Towers Filter Pollution Equivalent to 825 Trees

The high costs of climate change charge heavy prices. Unhealthy air levels increase throughout the globe. Fires destroy forests at alarming rates while taking lives of the innocent. However, nature is one of our greatest teachers. City developers, architects, and engineers are creatively coming up with ways to produce harmony in every project. Three new City Trees, filtering CO2 as well as providing oxygen, have been permanently placed in Leytonstone, London.

How City Trees Work

City Tree London — Photo by @ansonmackay

City Trees aren’t trees by definition. They’re tree-inspired towers made of different types of moss-eating particulates and nitrogen oxides. Similar to trees, they take in these materials and produce oxygen. These oxygen towers have been called the “‘world’s first biotech pollution filter” and contain energy systems that allow them to work whatever the weather. Each tower contains a water tank, irrigation systems and sensors to monitor moss growth. Smart like mother nature, City Trees can collect data to learn more about the surrounding environment. This information can then be used to implement future biotech features for greener cities.

One Tower Is Equivalent to 275 Trees

City Trees provide the benefits of walking in a mini forest garden. Each tower has the same capability to filter pollutants and produce oxygen as 275 trees. Leytonstone currently has three tree towers—equivalent to 825 trees. City dwellers receive clean air without missing the opportunity because of limited space for real trees.

City Trees Are Here to Stay

In 2018, a small installment ran in the West End for a few months. However, it isn’t the first time the town has seen city towers. This recent placement is here to bring clean air for good by Waltham Forest Council, as part of a collaboration with clean air company Evergen.

“This is a valuable step to filter London’s air and adapt to climate change. However, we mustn’t kid ourselves,’ Clean Air in London director Simon Birkett mentions in an interview. ‘It is cheaper, quicker, necessary and more likely to protect public health and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions if we simply eliminate emissions at their source.” This is one step in the right direction.

Locals and visitors can find City Trees outside Leytonstone tube station as well as on the intersection of Leytonstone High Road and Crownfield Road. The towers are perfectly placed within a pollutant hotspot promising clean filtration throughout.