Use Plants to Help Purify Your Indoor Air

While Hepa air filters are still one of the most effective ways to purify your indoor air, there is also a cheaper (and prettier!) way to clean your air. Plants!

A study published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), with help from the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) suggesting certain plants could be used to rid indoor spaces of harmful toxins (VOCs) commonly found in homes (formaldehyde, benzene, trichloroethylene and amonia, among others). In the study, researchers recommend one plant per 100 square feet for optimal resuts.

Here are a few to try:

Aloe Vera

Good for: cleaning formaldehyde and benzene (common in furniture and paints and many cleaning products) from the air

Bonus: Helps heal cuts

Spider plants

Good for: Cleaning benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene (found in some leather products) from the air

Bonus: This low maintenance plant is hard to kill!

Golden Pothos (Devil’s Ivy)

Good for: Cleaning formaldehyde from the air.

Bonus: This hearty plant stays green even with VERY little sunlight. 

Gerber Daisy

Good for: Removing trichloroethylene (common in dry cleaning) from the air

Bonus: They’re pretty!

Chrysanthemum

Good for: Cleaning benzene (common in glue, paint, plastics and detergent) from the air.

Bonus: Okay, maybe not a “bonus” but this plant needs alot of sunlight

Good for: One of the best at filtering out both benzene and trichloroethylene.

Bonus: Thrives in shady indoor spaces (and sometimes flowers with small berries)

Red-edged dracaena

Good for: Filtering xylene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde from the air.

Bonus: The red edges!