How Often Should You Vacuum to Get Rid of Microplastics and Other Particulates? (2025)

Global Earth Day published studies that recovered pets and babies are particularly astatine consequence for microplastic vulnerability from family dust. Both family members enactment debased to nan ground—closer to dust, microplastics, and particulates that are invisible to nan naked oculus connected carpets and floors—and put everything successful their mouths, making it easier for them to ingest microplastic particulate that could beryllium connected those objects.

While that family particulate could beryllium anyplace successful your home, carpet turns retired to person its ain issues. My chap WIRED reviewer Lisa Wood Shapiro discovered her carpet was harboring PM 2.5 while testing air value monitors. Never heard of PM 2.5? It's particulate matter mini capable to participate nan lungs and bloodstream, contributing to wellness problems for illustration bosom attacks, hypertension, and respiratory issues. Shapiro recovered that simply stepping crossed her carpet caused spikes successful PM 2.5 readings connected her aerial value monitors, arsenic nan matter stored successful nan carpet was released backmost into nan air—and perchance into her lungs —by her footfalls.

The Simple Solution

The aforesaid point tin lick some of these issues: much predominant vacuuming.

Aidan Charron, an subordinate head astatine EarthDay.org, recommends vacuuming daily, on pinch avoiding polyester rugs and carpets successful your home. Polyester is simply a plastic-based textile, truthful having that cloth successful your surviving spaces could present much microplastics into your location and dust. You mightiness want to see a wool rug, for illustration one of our favorites, below, aliases moreover a washable rug like this 1 from Revival, recommended by WIRED's aerial value expert, Lisa Wood Shapiro.

When it comes to mitigating indoor PM 2.5, Shapiro specifically recommends vacuuming pinch a HEPA-filter-equipped vacuum (like our favourite instrumentality vacuum, below) to forestall those particles from escaping into nan aerial arsenic moreover smaller particles.

Whether aliases not you're worried astir wide ungraded aliases these particles, you should beryllium vacuuming carpet regular aliases adjacent to daily. That’s particularly existent successful high-traffic areas that are some getting nan astir ungraded vulnerability from group stepping connected them, and which are exposing your family to immoderate is stored successful that carpet. If you're connected that carpet each day, effort to vacuum it a fewer times a week astatine least. It's besides bully for nan carpet's longevity to vacuum frequently.

Hard floors tin beryllium vacuumed person to erstwhile a week; I'm partial to astatine slightest a play vacuum-and-mopping session. Hard floors won't shop particulate matter for illustration carpet can, but they tin still accumulate plentifulness of dust. Steam mops (like our favorite, above) are different awesome measurement to really cleanable a difficult floor. If you find yourself dreading really often you mightiness request to vacuum, drawback a robot vacuum that tin do immoderate of nan activity for you.

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