A team from China has created an environmentally-friendly household cleaning appliance that can sanitize and disinfect your home, and even fruit and vegetables, by using water and salt. Dubbed Egret, the easy-to-use home appliance is centered around a patented technology that creates electrolyzed water to combat germs, bacteria, odors and viruses.
“Egret works by harnessing the awesome power of electrolyzed water, or EO water,” says the creators. “When you pass electricity through a salt water mixture, you create EO water. EO water exterminates 99.95 percent of virus and germs that it comes into contact with; and literally blows up bacteria by breaking its outer cells and bursting it with water.”
The use of electrolyzed water is reported to be just as effective as traditional cleaning products and reduces the need for single-use plastics by replacing commercially sold packaged cleaning products. Users simply fill the device with tap water and household salt, and within 60 seconds the Egret device creates an electrolyzed water solution. The solution takes three minutes to perform its cleaning duties.
“EO water created by Egret is as effective as any cleaning product, and it’s totally natural, so it won’t harm your skin or aggravate your allergies,” says the Egret’s creators.
The Egret is suitable for cleaning and deodorizing most household features including kitchens, bathrooms, clothing, carpets, furniture, shoes, surfaces, pet items and car interiors. The EO water created by the device is non-toxic and sterile, allowing it to be suitable for cleaning infant products and to sterilize baby bottles. Electrolyzed water has also been proven as an effective method to wash fruits and vegetables and can even remove pesticide residue.
Studies like those out of the University of Georgia, Griffin, and RMIT in Melbourne, Australia, seem to broadly agree that electrolyzed water shows promise as a sustainable alternative to traditional cleaning products. An evaluation by the Georgia researchers confirmed EO water’s bacteria-killing potential, concluding that “EO water treatment could be used as an effective method for reducing microbial contamination on different surfaces.”
“Electrolyzed water systems are a relatively new technology,” states RMIT in a study on the Use of Electrolyzed Water Vs Conventional Cleaning and Sanitizing Products. “Using salt and tap water, these systems generate two streams simultaneously. One is alkaline and the other is acidic, having the characteristics of cleaning and sanitizing solutions, respectively.
“It was found that electrolyzed water has the potential to reduce the environmental impact and improve the safety in the work environment in comparison with the typical cleaning/sanitizing products, as well as it can be more economic over the long term.”
Users should note that after using the Egret appliance there may be a swimming pool-like smell, this is because of the chlorine in the electrolyzed water. Therefore, it is important that all fruits and vegetables, infant items, surfaces and objects are rinsed with clean water three minutes after using the electrolyzed water solution.
The Egret cleaning appliance comes with a USB cable to charge its battery and is currently seeking financial backing via the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform. Backers can get their hands on the first release the Egret from US$109, if all goes to plan. It is anticipated that the Egret device will retail for US$219. Shipping is estimated to start in April.
Compact device kills bacteria and germs using salt and water [New Atlas]