Which plants work best to clean the air?

It’s true!  “All plants remove toxins (VOCs) from the air, in fact it seems any plant will perform as well as others,” according to Professor Margaret Burchett from the University of Technology in Sydney Australia.

It’s all to do with the microbes that live in the potting soil (or other growing medium) that work incessantly hard to turn the toxins into food for the plant. 

Recent studies led by Burchett have found that plants in 20cm pots upwards can have a good effect on eating up any ‘nasties’ in the indoor air which are many – often more than outdoors.  Where do the toxins come from?  They’re emitted by many everyday objects from the plastics in computers and televisions, many paints and most carpets and furnishings.  The Volatile Organic Compounds released by these materials are all toxic and many are carcinogenic according to Burchett so we are definitely better off cleaning the air of them.

Introducing indoor plants into workspaces and homes will reduce the VOCs to negligible amounts making the air much cleaner for us to breathe.

“As well, their role in removing CO2 from the air and adding oxygen means that they are the greenest way of improving indoor air quality.” says Burchett.

Dr Ronald Wood in earlier research at the University of Technology in Sydney found that plants don’t stop absorbing toxins.  As long as the plants are healthy they continue to absorb and even accelerate the speed at which they absorb them.

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Burchett and Wood have tested 12 plants in total: Aglaonema modestrum, Chamaedorea elegans, Dracaena deremensis ‘Janet Craig’, Dracaena marginate, Epipremnum aureum, Howea forsteriana, Philodendron ‘Congo’, Sansevieria trifasciata, Schefflera ‘Amate’, Spathiphyllum ‘Petite’, Spathiphyllum ‘Sensation’ & Zamioculcas zamiifolia


Dr Bill Wolverton identified several plants which in certain research situations worked better than others i.e. Spathiphyllum, palms, ferns, ivies and more; Dr Ronald Wood used Howea forsteriana (Kentia palm), Dracaena deremensis Janet Craig and Spathiphyllum (peace lily) in his research.

Smith in Scotland used various Schefflera and Calathea varieties, Spathiphyllum, Dracaena, Ficus, Peperomia, Philodendron and Scindapsus supporting Burchett’s theory.

Sources:
‘Greening the Great Indoors for Human Health and Wellbeing’ by Margaret Burchett et al.  University of Technology, Sydney
www.wolvertonenvironmental.com
www.plantscleanair.com