Plants Reduce Indoor Pollution

Purple heart plants help remove VOCs from indoor air.

As allergy sufferers gear up for the winter, they must take extra thought regarding the fact that they will inevitably spend more time indoors. Since indoor air can be as much as 12 times more polluted than outdoor air, individuals with asthma and allergies need to guard against the harmful effects of breathing polluted indoor air.

One of the best ways to do this is to try to keep pollutants from entering the home environment in the first place. For instance, taking off shoes at the door can stop many toxins from coming in, as discussed in our article Major Source of Indoor Dust: Outdoors.

Additionally, sensitive individuals should avoid burning candles in the home, using home fragrances, and traditional cleaning products. Instead, whenever possible, natural items such as the AllerAir Tub O' Carbon Odor Buster or EcoDiscoveries Natural Cleaning Products should be used.

No matter how many precautions you take, however, there are still pollutants in your home's air. Off-gassing from furniture, paint, varnish, and dry-cleaned clothing, to name a few, all contribute to toxic elements in indoor air. To minimize exposure to these, the pollutants must be taken out of the air.

While air purifiers, especially those fitted with carbon filtration, like our Austin Air units, are the most reliable way to reduce both allergens and pollutants in the home, Science Daily reports on new research that points to houseplants' ability to help eliminate indoor air pollution.

Stanley J. Kays, of the Department of Horticulture at the University of Georgia, led a study in which ornamental household plants were tested for their ability to remove harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from indoor air. ‘The VOCs tested in this study can adversely affect indoor air quality and have a potential to seriously compromise the health of exposed individuals,’ Kays explained.

In the study, 28 common indoor plants were tested for their ability to remove VOCs from the air, called ‘phytoremediation.’ Plants were grown in shade houses and then placed in gas-tight glass jars and exposed to several VOCs. Based on their phytoremediation rates, they were classified as superior, intermediate, or poor in removing VOCs from the indoor environment.

Purple waffle plants, English ivy, the variegated wax plant, and Asparagus ferns had the highest removal rates for all the VOCs introduced. Purple heart plants were rated superior for its ability to remove four of the VOCs tested for.

The study concluded that ‘simply introducing common ornamental plants into indoor spaces has the potential to significantly improve the quality of indoor air.’

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