Breathe Easy With Wool – New Fact Sheet

Scientists at AgResearch have produced indisputable proof for something we at the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) have known for a long time: wool carpets improve indoor air quality.

A new fact sheet from IWTO provides all the research and figures to show that wool is a powerful air-purifying material that absorbs and neutralises common pollutants, helping to create a healthier, more comfortable environment in which to live and work.

Wool Carpet Facts

The causes of indoor pollution include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as airborne particles such as dust and microplastics. We inhale these pollutants daily without even thinking about it, and they can have a detrimental effect on our health and productivity. Ventilation is not usually an adequate solution, as it does not remove all of the major causes of air pollution.

VOCs include chemicals such as formaldehyde. They are continuously released from building materials, furnishings and appliances, meaning they are an unavoidable part of life and work in the interiors in which we spend most of our time.

However, wool provides a simple solution to this problem.

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How Wool Purifies Air

As a complex natural fibre, wool has a unique set of chemical and physical properties, including the ability to absorb and bind a wide range of common indoor pollutants.

AgResearch scientists in New Zealand studied the air-purifying properties of wool carpets, fabrics and sheepskins. Their tests showed that wool carpets have the ability to reduce high levels of formaldehyde to virtually zero in as little as four hours, even when heated. Similar results were achieved with nitrogen dioxide, another common VOC.

Nylon carpets were similarly tested and, while they were able to absorb these gases, but at a much slower rate, rendering them much less effective. With only nylon carpets in the room, VOCs still remain at relatively high concentrations over an extended period.

In short, all surfaces, furnishings and coverings inside a room will absorb VOCs to a certain extent, but wool carpeting is the only one that has the physical and chemical make-up, as well as the effective surface area, to remove these harmful pollutants almost entirely, leading to purer, healthier air.

To find out more about wool’s air purification properties, download the “Breathe Easy With Wool” fact sheet.

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