I never knew plants could clean the air in my home!
As I continue on my nontoxic journey, I am eager to reach another phase of my journey. I am at the point where I am focusing on detoxing the air in my home. Most of us spend most of our time indoors, whether that’s home, school, work or a business. Until recently, I wasn’t aware how polluted our indoor air was. The EPA estimates that indoor air is 2-5x more polluted than outside air! Thank goodness for air purifying plants!
Indoor air pollution is due to several particles like mold spores, bacteria, viruses, smoke, pet dander, gases and organic compounds emitted by furniture, carpeting, cleaning products, air fresheners, building materials and paint. When you have all of these combined, you’re talking toxins in the air that you are inhaling consistently! Indoor air pollution may cause short term and long term symptoms including: sneezing, wheezing, itchy throat or nose or eyes, coughing, nasal congestion, irritability, fatigue, respiratory diseases, etc.
So How do plants come in?
There are some indoor plants that are considered air purifiers! There was a Clean Air study done by NASA as well as a University of Copenhagen study that have revealed that some indoor plants are capable of removing toxic chemicals from the air, purifying it. These toxic chemicals include toluene, formaldehyde, benzene, xylene, ammonia…just to name a few. These chemicals have been linked to cancer, hormone disrupters, allergic reactions and so on. They do this by 1) metabolizing toxic chemicals and releasing harmless by-products, and 2) they can incorporate toxicants such as heavy metals into plant tissues, thus absorbing them. How amazing is that?!
Different plants filter different chemicals, and their efficacy at doing this varies from species to species. I found this chart (see below) that is a good start, but it doesn’t include all the plants that are considered air purifiers. For example, my ZZ plant (zamioculcas zamiifolia) can filter toluene, benzene, xylene and ethylbenzene.
If you’ve been a plant lover and have a number of these plants in your home, but wasn’t aware of these benefits, then you have another reason to love them! Are you a pet owner and thinking about getting some? Just make sure you are aware of the ones that are toxic to pets.
Here’s to cleaner and greener air! 🌱
With Love,
P.S. Are you more of a visual person? Click here to watch the video on this post and be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel!
