Our houses are often set on busy roads, where traffic can cause air pollution. New research indicates that planting silver birch trees along the pavement, or planted at the edge of a front garden, reduces the pollution inside the houses behind by 60%.
Silver birch trees have hairy leaves, which pick up road traffic soot particles from the air. Silver birch are very tolerant of this, and rain washes off the particles, cleaning the leaves.
TV programme in 2013
