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Houseplants Remove Toxins
Posted On 2009-11-08 , 3:28 PM
Now the Other Side of the Story
Houseplants do remove toxins from the air in your home. But how effective they are at improving indoor air quality depends on some other factors as well.
Firstly, houseplants can only remove VOCs ( volatile organic compounds) at a certain rate. The rate at which VOCs are removed from a room can be increased to a certain extent by adding more plants. We run into a problem in that houseplants take up space, the space in which we live.
There is another way we can ensure we benefit from our houseplant's air cleaning work. We have to reduce the rate at which toxins are added to our room air. Some things we can do to help are:
- using paints and other decorating products that are designed to be more eco friendly when we redecorate.
- using eco friendly cleaning products when we clean that give off less VOCs.
- insisting on organic cleaners for carpet and upholstery cleaning.
- not smoking in the room. It does little good to have houseplants cleaning the air if someone sits in the living room smoking a big cigar or even a cigarette.
- dust the room to reduce the amount of dust particles. Dust particles are picked up by small movements of air and are carried around the room. We can see this in the dust collecting on surfaces and on the leaves of our houseplants.
Secondly, we can keep our houseplants acting as efficiently as possible by:
- keeping the leaves clean so that they can breathe and maximize the transfers involved in photosynthesis.
- provide the conditions the plant needs to remain healthy and strong. A strong healthy houseplant will be a better air cleaner than a sick weak plant.
By taking care of the houseplants and taking care that the materials we are introducing into our living space, we can get the best benefit from our indoor houseplants.
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