Green Story

Some products make you pause at their ingenious nature. Such is the case with a product Massachusetts-based Lynnfield Green Technologies markets and sells: the Toucan-Eco, a device that produces a harmless yet effective cleaning and sanitizing solution composed of table salt, tap water and a small charge of electricity.

The tabletop device takes four minutes to activate 1.5 liters of a cleaning and sanitizing solution into electrolyzed water. When the chloride ion in salt is separated from the sodium ion, it is electrochemically converted to hypochlorous acid, a sanitizer. The remaining sodium ion is electrochemically converted into sodium hydroxide, a basic element in many cleaning solutions. The products are safe to the touch — and effective.

“Environmental Protection Agency tests determined that the Toucan-Eco is 80 times more effective than chlorine bleach when used as a sanitizer, yet it’s harmless to humans and pets,” says Patrick Lucci, managing director of Lynnfield Green Technologies. “There has not been such a breakthrough in the cleaning and sanitizing world in recent history that can match the performance of this simple device. Even ‘green’ chemicals cannot come close to the safety and cost savings of the Toucan-Eco.”

In a YouTube video, after dripping a few droplets of the finished product into his mouth, Lucci says: “You can put it in your mouth, it won’t hurt you. You can get it on your skin, it won’t hurt you. You can get it on your clothes, it won’t hurt you.”

The only thing it’s dangerous to, says Lucci, is microorganisms. “It's really a remarkable product.”

The Toucan Mini does the same thing in the same way as the Toucan-Eco, only it makes a smaller quantity of electrolyzed water. Its MSRP is $150.

Centrego UK manufactures the products; Lynnfield has exclusive American rights to sell them. The Toucan-Eco, meant for small businesses and households, is $350. The initial investment pays off because the electrolyzed water costs one penny per gallon to make and eliminates the need for any other standard cleaning products — and some big institutions have noticed. MIT is using the same technology but on a bigger scale, and Lynnfield has sold a machine to the Food and Drug Administration.