Vent-Axia is offering eight easy steps to help protect children from indoor air pollution on Clean Air Day on 17 June.
Clean Air Day is led by environmental charity Global Action Plan and aims to improve public understanding of air pollution and explain how we can tackle it, with this years’ event focusing on protecting children’s health.
As society opens up and children return to their lives, it’s vital that they can learn and play in healthy environments. This Clean Air Day, good Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is more important than ever since COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of ventilation and the air we breathe, while children have spent more time indoors due to lockdowns.
Eight easy steps to clean air
- Avoid spraying aerosols and use eco-friendly cleaning products: Aerosols lead to a build-up of unhealthy chemicals in the air. Also, un-perfumed products with lower VOCs (volatile organic compounds) produce fewer pollutants, making the air healthier to breathe in.
- Use unscented candles: Burning scented candles adds harmful VOCs to the air which significantly decreases indoor air quality.
- Vacuum regularly: Keep on top of dust mites and other sources of allergies by regularly vacuuming.
- Dry wet clothes outside or in a dryer: Drying clothes indoors adds both moisture and VOCs to its air. This increases the risk of condensation and mould and indoor air pollution.
- Use a cooker hood: Whenever you’re cooking, turn on your cooker hood to remove pollution particulates released by cooking. It’s a good idea to use the cooker hood when cleaning your kitchen too.
- Don’t forget to ventilate: Use mechanical ventilation to remove polluted or humid air from the home, particularly when cooking, cleaning or taking a shower.
- Use an Air Purifier: An air purifier will remove pollutants from the air in the home for a fresher and healthier indoor environment. Air purifiers filter out a wide range of particles including mould, dust, viruses, VOCs, PM2.5, bacteria, pollen, and allergens while neutralising bad smells.
- Clean fan filters: If a ventilation system or air purifier uses filters, they should be checked regularly and cleaned or replaced when needed to ensure the system keeps filtering the air coming into a home effectively.
Lena Hebestreit, marketing manager at Vent-Axia, explained: “To improve indoor air quality there are three main actions to take: reduce the number of pollutants introduced into the air; dilute the pollutants in the air by ensuring there is adequate ventilation introducing fresh clean air; purify by adding an air purifier to remove the remaining pollutants from the air.”