An Icelandic Internet company has turned the volcanic ash cloud that led to Europe’s biggest aerial shutdown since World War II into a charity money-spinner, its chief executive said last week.
The online shop, nammi.is, which sells various products from the north Atlantic island, is offering 160g jars of the ash from Eyjafjpoll volcano for 23.80 euros (US$29.90, NT$945), with the proceeds all going to charity.
“The response has been enormous since we started this 10 days ago,” Sofus Gustavsson said, whose company has sold the ash to 60 countries so far.
In all, 133 countries have made inquiries and almost a million visitors have gone onto the Web site since the offer began.
“It all started when one of our foreign clients, who is a collector, inquired if we could get him some ash from the volcano. I thought right away that this was a brilliant idea,” the Web site’s chief executive explained.
“My father lives nearby the volcano and I asked him if he could get me some ash. He shovelled a whole lot and brought it to me.”
To meet demand, Gustavsson’s father has since made three more trips to collect the ash, and every time it has been different. “It is now much coarser than it was earlier,” the Icelandic businessman said.
There are two other companies also selling volcanic ash, but both with the aim of turning a profit.
Instead, Gustavsson is donating the proceeds to Iceland’s search and rescue services. “I thought there was something wrong about profiting from something that is ruining peoples lives, the farmers near the volcano for example.”
(AFP)
冰島火山爆發的火山灰，造成二次世界大戰以來，歐洲空中交通癱瘓最嚴重的一次。一家冰島網路公司總裁上週表示，成功地利用火山灰，在網路上販賣變成慈善搖錢樹。
該網路公司網址為nammi.is，專門販賣冰島各種不同商品。每瓶一百六十公克(五盎司半)的火山灰以二十三點八歐元(相當於二十九點九美元，折合台幣九百四十五元)賣出，販賣所得全數以慈善為目的。
產品已經賣到全球六十個國家的公司總裁索夫斯•古斯達夫森表示：「從我們十天前推出這個新產品之後，回響相當熱烈。」
自從開始販賣火山灰後，大約有一百萬人點閱他們網站，並相關的詢問來自一百三十三個國家。
網站總裁解釋說：「這一切都是從我們一位外國客戶開始。他是個收藏家，問我們可否替他蒐集一些火山灰。我馬上覺得這是個很好的主意。」
「我父親就住在火山附近。我便問他可否幫我弄點火山灰來。於是他便鏟了一大堆來給我。」
為了應付銷售量，古斯達夫森的父親又去了火山三趟取火山灰，而每次去的情況都不同。網站總裁表示：「現在的灰比以前的還要粗。」
另外有兩家公司也賣火山灰，但這兩家都以營利為目的。
但是古斯達夫森卻將收益捐給冰島的搜救與急救單位。他表示：「我覺得從他人的不幸，如住在火山邊的農夫，獲得利益是不好的。」
（法新社╱翻譯：吳岱璟）
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