Man sells British fresh air to wealthy Chinese elite for £80 a jar

Leo De Watts is thought to have made thousands of pounds in just a few weeks by shipping air to China from the UK

A businessman is raking in thousands of pounds selling jars of ‘fresh air’ to people in China for £80 each.

Leo De Watts, 27, sells air collected in the British countryside and ships it over to polluted cities Shanghai and Beijing, where the wealthy elite pay a hefty sum for a few seconds of inhalation.

The Aethaer products include air from Somerset, Wales and Dorset, with each area said to create air with different qualities.

Watts’ website boasts: “Aethaer is filtered organically by nature as it flows between the leaves of woodland trees, absorbs pristine water as it passes over babbling brooks and forest streams, and is lovingly caressed as it rolls over and between mineral rich rock formations, after which it is blown up over vistas of untouched beauty to where the Aethaer is collected and bottled.”

The bottles have already made Watts a hefty sum, with the Dorset Echo reporting that 180 have been sold since the buisness' inception just a few weeks ago.

As well as those buying the product to inhale, it is reportedly also being purchased by people who will never open it, but instead keep the jar for its novelty value.

The air is collected using jars held in makeshift nets, which are held into the air and walked around in areas far removed from anywhere polluted – a process Watts describes as ‘air farming’.

In addition to selling regular bottles of air, Watts – who lines in Hong Kong – is also doing a ‘Chinese New Year special’ which includes 15 jars of fresh air for £888.