When we think of air pollution we usually think of outdoors and indoor air quality is overlooked. We’ve been sealed inside our homes all winter with air pollutants like tobacco smoke, cat dander, dust, dust mite droppings and pollen, not even opening a window to let some of these allergens escape. And we’re not into warm enough weather to be throwing open our doors and windows just yet, so getting your hands on a good vacuum cleaner and vacuuming regularly is the best answer to improving your indoor air quality at this time of year.

My personal favourite is the Dyson Animal (pictured). It comes with a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter which traps 99.97 percent of particles down to 0.3 microns in size, seriously reducing allergens and it’s bagless, so less waste to landfill. Because my carpets are 100% wool, all of my vacuum cleaner “dust” goes straight into the composter. I’ve had mine for 4 years, and every time I use it I’m impressed at the amount of gunk that it sucks out of what appears to be a clean carpet. It also has an animal hair attachment for very effectively getting pet hair off sofas and curtains.

Regardless of which vacuum cleaner you decide to go for, look out for the HEPA filter for maximum allergen reduction and go bagless to reduce waste.