Swamp Thing

This article describes features of phytoremediation. Phytoremediation involves planting beds of wetland vegetation and using them to treat or dewater several types of noxious effluents, including sewage sludge, leachates from landfills, and wastes from chemical plants and oil-drilling operations. According to a video produced by New England Waste Systems, more than 60 municipal wastewater treatment facilities in the United States are using reed beds to treat at least part of their sludge. The reed bed can handle only a certain amount of sludge at any one time. Occasionally, Lloyd’s bed has been overloaded, causing some of the green growth to die off, but with patience and light loading the next few times, the reeds have been able to bounce back. In effect, solar energy is replacing fossil fuels and electricity. The costs, environmental and otherwise, of generating electricity are avoided, and all those chemical additives are kept in their bottles. Proponents say the remaining solid material, when ready to be dug up and disposed of, is far cleaner than waste that has merely been put through a filter press.