Breath Easy Indoors

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Breath Easy Indoors

_http://www.sgaonline.org.au/info_indoor_plants.html_

(http://www.sgaonline.org.au/info_indoor_plants.html)

The Benefits of Indoor Plants

Adjunct Professor Margaret Burchett at the University of Technology Sydney

led a number of trials with plants placed inside large airtight glass

containers or chambers.

Common pollutant chemicals were pumped into the containers and the

researchers were astonished at how much of the pollution was gobbled up –

totally

gone. It turned out that the microbes in the potting mix in association with

the

plant were doing the work.

Three large pot plants per room (that’s floor-standing sized plants like

these) are enough to clean the air to the point where contaminants are

negligible.

Background

Adjunct Professor Margaret Burchett and professional horticulturalist Ron

Wood in collaboration with their colleagues Dr Ralph Orwell, Dr Jane Tarran and

Dr Fraser Torpy in the Faculty of Science’ Plants and Environmental Quality

Group, presented their research findings at the International Symposium on

Plant-People Relationships held in the Netherlands.

In what Professor Burchett terms a “dungeon†(basement) or window-tight

situation, there is a toxic mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found

in indoor air. Although these compounds are present indoors in low individual

concentrations, they are capable of producing toxic symptoms in humans — and

the cocktail can be addictive, or even synergistic in its effects.

New paint, carpets, furniture and fittings radiate these VOCs, and Professor

Burchett and her colleagues caution that “if you smell that new office

smell, you are scenting the toxic VOCsâ€.

Dominant VOC toxicity symptoms are sore eyes, nose and throat; a feeling of

dizziness; loss of concentration; headaches; mild nausea; faint

disorientation; and mildly depersonalised feelings. These are the same symptoms

present in

“sick building syndrome†or “building-related illnessâ€.

Professor Burchett’s research group has shown that a mixture of plant

species — including:

* Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily)

* Howea forsteriana (Kentia Palm)

* Dracaena marginata (Marginata)

* Dracaena deremensis (Janet Craig)

* Epipremnum aureum (Devil’s Ivy)

can achieve a complete removal of VOCs in 24 hours in a closed chamber with

no ventilation, and a 10 to 20 per cent reduction in flow-through conditions.

 

These removal rates rise with increasing VOC concentrations, which have been

tested from five to 1000 parts per million in the case of benzine (where the

occupational maximum indoor concentration in Australia is five ppm, averaged

over an eight-hour day).

Professor Burchett emphasises that one does not need a “rain forest†to

detoxify basement or sealed office areas, and states that plants strategically

placed in the workplace can achieve significant results.

Several large, shoulder-high plants from the recommended species could be

placed on the floor, and smaller plants could be sited near computers and on

desk surfaces.

In a British experiment, scientists claim that rats died after being

released into small tanks with edge-to-edge new carpets. And in a study

conducted

for the housing department in the United Kingdom, it was found that pot plants

reduced by one third the build-up of nitrogen oxides in houses with gas fires

and stoves, which produce these compounds.

A recent Swedish study to improve the indoor environment in an x-ray unit

situated in a hospital “dungeonâ€, demonstrated conclusively that pot plants

not only achieved a substantial reduction in total VOCs in the indoor air but

also reduced worker absenteeism by 60 per cent.

According to Professor Burchett, UTS research has confirmed the potential of

potted plants as a portable, mass-marketable, integrated biofiltration

system to improve indoor air quality.

“Urban dwellers often spend more than 80 per cent of their time indoors, so

indoor air quality is a major health consideration. Potted plants will be

increasingly used as a flexible indoor biofiltration system, as well as for

beautifying indoor spaces.â€

The World Health Organisation report, The Right to Healthy Indoor Air,

published in 2000, highlights increasing recognition of a legal obligation on

the

part of owners and managers to supply healthy air for the occupants, and

consequently the trend to using customised plant boxes as part of that solution

has already commenced in some countries.

Information and photograph courtesy of University of Technology Sydney:

_http://www.utsnews.uts.edu.au_

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