There is a wealth of information to support the use of potted plants to improve indoor air quality. They provide an inexpensive, flexible, portable and aesthetically attractive bio filtration system for indoor air, which is self-sustaining when normal plant care is given.

Most people in urbanised societies spend over 80% of their time indoors, at home, work or school, (or in transit in vehicles among these locations) (Hodgson et al., 1997; USEPA, 2000).

With energy conservation, buildings have become airtight with less air infiltration/exfiltration. As a result this has affected indoor air quality (IAQ),

"indoor air... may be more polluted than the air outside …" (Smith, 1997; US EPA, 2000).

Poor (IAQ) comes as a result of many factors:

1. Outdoor air containing pollutants is typically used in building ventilation.
2. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) a major component of indoor air pollution. VOCs consist of a large number of organic substances, which will volatilize at normal room temperatures. This VOC are produced by carpets, furniture, toners, and cleaning agents to name a few.

Good indoor air quality is essential for the health and wellbeing of building occupants. To quote the American Lung Association (2001)

“when you can’t breathe, nothing else matters”.

Improving indoor air quality IAQ is among the most profitable investments building managers can make, since even small improvements in IAQ will directly improve productivity.

Three independent experimental studies in Denmark and Sweden have shown that improving indoor air quality improves the performance of typical office work such as word processing, proof reading and arithmetical calculations (Wargocki et al. 1999, 2000, 2002).