Phytoremediation

Phytoremediation, also known as green remediation, refers to the use of plants and plant materials to degrade, stabilize or collect environmental contaminants. Interest in phytoremediation has grown due to the inordinate costs of cleaning up Superfund sites.

Actually, phytoremediation has been used for some time as a way to concentrate toxic, heavy metals from waste lagoons. Bulrushes have been used extensively in Israel. There is a very active area of research conducted by scientists looking for plants that scavenge metals. The goal is to clean up contaminated soils from smelter and mine sites, landfills, sites where there has been misuse and accidental spills of biocides and other organic chemicals, and sites containing radioactive isotopes, and explosives.

There are many potential benefits to using phytoremediation.

• What are some of the benefits to using phytoremediation?

While there are many benefits to using plants to correct problems with environmental contamination, there are also some negative aspects.

• What are some of the drawbacks to using phytoremediation?

While phytoremediation uses natural occurring plants, it can also be conducted using genetically engineered plants.