SDG 3 Plants Remove Cancer Causing Indoor Air Toxins

Globally, poor air quality is responsible for 6.7 million premature deaths, and indoor air quality is almost always worse than the air outside. Of particular concern, air in offices and residential buildings is often polluted with harmful motor vehicle-generated volatile organic compounds (VOCs), sourced from attached carparks. Conventional air cleaning technologies such as filtration fibres within heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems are incapable of gaseous pollutant filtration and require enormous energy expenditure and capital investment. UTS researchers partnered with plantscaping solutions company Ambius to test the impact of indoor plants on these dangerous vehicle pollutants.  

This research built on previous work done into indoor plants’ ability to remove many forms of air pollution in indoor air but was tailored specifically to the removal of the complex mixture of toxic substances in petrol vapour, with the results far exceeding their expectations. Indoor plants removed the majority of toxic contaminants from the air in 8 hours and, most surprisingly, were most effective in removing the most harmful of these contaminants first, with less harmful substances being removed more gradually.   

This makes indoor plants a highly cost-effective and sustainable method by which to combat harmful chemicals in workplaces and high-density living areas. This study reinforces the idea that plants can act as more than decoration in professional and residential spaces and hold a genuine place for the wellness of people who work and live in these spaces.