Can houseplants reduce indoor pollution?
If it sometimes feels like you can’t do diddly squat about pollution in the world at large, here’s a simple and attractive way to clean up the air in your own home: house plants. Once you’ve got rid of as many other common toxins at home (including ‘traditional’ cleaning products like bleach and other harsh chemicals, air fresheners and so on) it’s a good time to introduce plants, which will keep the air as pollution-free as possible. A new book called ‘How to grow fresh air’ explains all about how plants purify the air, and even recommends which are the best in terms of removing pollutants from the air. Read on for some suggestions from the book… [Via Little Green Blog] Following research, the recommendation is that you use 15 to 18 good-sized houseplants in 6 to 8-inch diameter containers to improve air quality in an average 1,800 square foot house. The best plants for removing trichloroethylene were Gerbera daisy (Gerbera janesonll), Marginata (Dracaena marginata) and Peace Lily (
