How Indoor Plants Clean Indoor Air

Introductionspecializes in this area "
People have worked indoors for many centuries, but itThe following link is to a Fact Sheet from the
is only in the last few decades that the indoorAustralian Department of the Environment, which gives
environment is generally totally sealed, air conditioned,details on the VOCs indoors and their health effects.
and filled with synthetic materials that can out gasJohn Bergs in a study in the Netherlands found that
chemicals into the air. These chemicals called VOCs,health complaints by office workers have been on the
or volatile organic compounds, can haveincrease since the seventies, and found that on
concentrations several times higher then that presentaverage some 35% of office workers are dissatisfied
in outdoor city air, and are recognized as having awith the interior environment and 20% suffer from
deleterious effect on the health of people working inhealth complaints such as eye complaints and nose
this environment.and throat irritations. In the same study he showed the
Over the last twenty years it has become recognizedbenefits that can accrue from having indoor plants in
that indoor plants have the ability to remove thesethe office.
VOCs from the indoor air, or at least substantiallyIt is well to remember that indoor air could be found to
reduce their concentration.be under the control of the employer and as such the
This article out lines the health effect thought to beemployer may have responsibilities and potential
caused by these VOCs in indoor air, and looks at theliabilities.
research behind the removal of these compoundsIndoor Plant Hire Benefits.
using indoor plants. As the most effective way toOver the last twenty years, it has been proven that
keep plants healthy in offices is indoor plant hire, it ishealthy indoor plants, as used in indoor plant hire, have
suggested that indoor plant hire is the preferred optionthe ability to remove VOCs from the indoor air.
of maintaining plants in offices.Research has shown that the system in action is the
Air quality inside officesbiological interaction between the plant roots and the
The use of synthetic building materials, printers,potting mix, enhancing micro organisms present to "eat
computers, cleaners and personal care products,up" the VOCs. Further more; their appetite seems to
combined with the practice of air conditioning buildings,increase with increased exposure to VOCs.
has resulted in the build up of chemicals called volatileAs early as 1980, Dr. Wolverton working for the
organic compounds in buildings. Below are someNASA space program discovered that indoor plants
building materials and the chemical they exude:could remove VOCs from sealed test chambers. This
Adhesives, ceiling tiles, paints, printers Benzene,was part of a NASA study into clean air inside closed
Toluene, Ethyl Benzene and Xylene.life support systems.
Photocopiers, particle board FormaldehydeIn 1990 Dr. Wolverton in association with the Plants for
It will be shown later in this article that the indoor plantsClean Air Council in the U.S. tested fifty indoor plants
used in indoor plant hire can remove the abovefor their ability to remove various VOCs from sealed
chemicals.test chambers. These finding were published in Dr.
Amongst other contaminants, over 300 VOCs haveWolverton's book "ECO friendly house plants",
been found in office air (Weshler Shields 1996) as wellpublished in 1996.
as other toxic gasses such as nitrogen oxide andA lot of recent research on the subject has been
carbon monoxide (Ross 1996).carried out by Ronald Wood and Associate Professor
Frequently no single pollutant having toxic potential isMargaret Burchett from the U.T.S. in Sydney.
present in unhealthy amounts, yet combined they formResearch in test chambers, progressed to
part of a chemical soup, which when combined withexperiments in real office situations in Sydney, and the
ozone can produce hydroxyl radicals (Weshler 1996).results were published in their paper entitled "The
In Australia the CSRIO can sample air within buildingspotted plant microcosm substantially reduces indoor air
and is able to measure a large range of potentialVOC pollution: 1. Office field study" February 1996.
pollutants.Some of the conclusions were:
Health effects of VOC exposureWhere indoor TVOC load was above 100 parts per
Research in Europe and the U.S. shows that mostbillion, indoor plants reduced the level by up to 70%
people in cities spend 90% of their time indoorsReducing the number of plants per test location did not
(Hodgson, Mann and Cavello 1997), and productivityreduce the VOC levels removed, pointing to increased
losses of up to 6% have been shown in buildingsactivity by the micro organisms.
where the indoor air quality is poor.Research in Europe ( John Bergs and Tove Fjeld) and
The Minnesota Department of Health in the U.S. liststhe United States (Virginia Lhor 1996) have shown that
the following health effects from VOC exposure:in offices with indoor plants ( as compared to offices
"without plants) worker productivity increases of up to
Acute12% have been measured, and on average health
* Eye irritation / wateringcomplaints related to sick building syndrome reduced
* Nose irritationby 20%.
* Throat irritationThe above results have all been produced with healthy
* Headachesindoor plants. Whilst in a home situation it is feasible to
* Nausea / Vomitingadequately maintain indoor plants, this requires a
* Dizzinessprofessional indoor plant hire service in an office
* Asthma exacerbationsituation, where other duties take priority. The author
Chronichas seen many offices were the staff "looked after"
* Cancerthe plants. In ninety nine per cent of these situations the
* Liver damageindoor plants were unsightly and as good as dead. This
* Kidney damagefact has been recognized by the Green Building
* Central Nervous System damageCouncil in Australia where, in order to gain 2 points
Most studies to date have been conducted on singleunder their Green Star rating system a two year
chemicals. Less is know about the health effects ofprofessional maintenance scheme needs to be in
combined chemical exposure. The best healthplace.
protection measure is to limit your exposure toGood Indoor Plants for removing VOCs
products and materials that contain VOCs whenThe following is a list of the plants that recorded the
possible. If you think you may be having healthhighest VOC removal rating in Wolverton's tests. The
problems caused by VOC exposure consult anlist only includes common plants used in the indoor plant
occupational/environmental health physician whohire industry.