Article By: Clear it Waste Collection.. Contributing Writer

Houseplants are known to have a huge visual impact on your physical space, as well as providing mental and physical health benefits. These include: improving your mood, lowering stress and improving work performance and focus. Some of them are also notably known for their air purification qualities.
With Google searches for ‘houseplants’ increasing by 200% over the last year, experts at Clear It Waste Collection decided to investigate out of a master list of 46 popular and common houseplants, which ones are the best for air purifying qualities. To determine this, Clear it Waste took to Reddit, scraping some of the most popular subreddits for mentions of each air purifying plant, to discover the plants homeowners can’t stop talking about.

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In first place is the Pothos plant, with 10,205 Reddit posts. The Pothos plant ranks the highest overall, with over 5,000 post mentions in the r/houseplant and r/plantclinic subreddits. It is known as one of the easiest to care for houseplants as it requires minimal watering. The Pothos plant is considered one of the most effective indoor air purifiers for removing common toxins such as formaldehyde, benzene and toluene. This plant is particularly great for darker offices, cafes and workspaces as it requires little sunlight and attention. Whilst this is considered to be one of the best low maintenance plants for air purification, be aware that it can contain toxins that are harmful to dogs and cats.

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The second most talked about plant on Reddit is the Philodendron, with 10,136 Reddit posts. The Philodendron grows well as an indoor plant and is known for its air purification qualities. It is considered to be an excellent choice for removing harmful toxins from the air, particularly formaldehyde which is commonly found in particleboard. This makes it a great plant for a healthier home environment, and doesn’t need direct sunlight in order to grow – perfect for the winter season! This plant is toxic when ingested though, so remember to keep away from small children and pets.

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In third place is the Snake Plant, with 10,123 Reddit posts. Snake plants are known to have a lot of health benefits, including filtering indoor air and boosting mental health. These plants are considered to be ‘lucky’ and reduce the risk of developing allergies and airborne diseases due to their filtration qualities. Specifically, this is one of the few plants that can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen at night and regulate airflow. This plant is perfect for brightening up your bedroom, or even in a school environment!

In fourth and fifth place, respectively, are Peace Lily (9,660) and Rubber Plant (7,383).

Experts at Clear It Waste Collection were keen to discover the most talked about air purifying houseplants.
In house experts created a master list of 46 popular houseplants, as established by Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful and ​​Costa Farms.
The plants were then categorised based on their air purification qualities according to online articles and an Air Purifying Plants study conducted by NASA. If the original master list of plants were considered to be ‘air purifying’, then they were kept for further investigation.
A total of 25 air purifying houseplants were identified.
Clear It Waste Collection then scraped the most popular houseplant subreddits which were ‘r/houseplants’, ‘r/plantclinic’ and ‘r/indoorplants’.
To ensure accuracy, the number of times each plant was mentioned was recorded out of 5000 posts per Reddit thread. Setting a limit enabled us to extract the absolute highest number.
The highest ranked posts were compiled to produce a top 10 list of the most discussed air-purifying houseplants.
All data was collected on 02/02/2022 and is subject to change.