Sunflowers belong to a unique class of plants known as hyperaccumulators, which are ideal candidates for cleaning up large areas of contamination, particularly heavy metals, because of their ability to absorb up to one percent of their dry weight in heavy minerals. sunflowers Photo by: Vanessa Farnsworth In some cases, these plants are able to degrade the contaminants into less harmful molecules such as hydrogen, oxygen or carbon dioxide and can therefore be left growing in the decontamination zone long after the job is complete or they can be harvested and disposed of like any other plant. In cases where plants store pollutants they cannot break down, as is the case with heavy metals, they are removed and disposed of as hazardous waste. Trees that have absorbed contaminants can be left unharvested for many decades, giving scientists time to explore novel approaches to extracting these metals for future reuse. Because it’s more cost-effective than traditional remediation methods and easier to implement, interest in phytoremediation has been picking up steam in recent years. It requires relatively little ongoing maintenance and can even beautify the area it’s detoxifying, giving you something more interesting to look at than that gash in the landscape where a gas station used to exist. (via The Garden Muse - Phytoremediation)
