Scientists in Denmark have claimed we will be able to remediate contaminated land "virtually without cost" in the future after identifying a plant which will take up and isolate almost any serious contaminant.
The announcement, by a consortium of Danish universities, follows two years of research into a wild plant, Polygonum serifis, which they say will take up a huge range of contaminants including heavy metals, hydrocarbons, PAHs, acid tars etc..
The plant comes from a remote volcanic island in the Indian Ocean where the soil lacks nutrients and the researchers say it has evolved to scavenge almost anything through its long roots.
It is fast growing, easy to sow and propagate and, thanks to the wide climatic variations of its native home, can be planted almost anywhere. Despite that it is easily controlled and non-invasive.
The researchers say they were astonished by the plant's ability to remove contaminants from the soil.
A site heavily contaminated with cadmium and lead was almost wholly cleansed in two growing seasons while another site dubbed "unremediable" thanks to multiple contaminantion was entirely cleansed in three.
"There seems to be no limit to what this plant can remediate," said Prof Olaf Orlip who led the research.
"At present European countries spend billions of euros on investigating and remediating contaminated sites. Polygonum serifis potentially offers a way of saving most of that and clearing Europe's huge legacy of industrially contaminated land for next to nothing."
The universities involved are now planning to set up a company to exploit the research and have received substantial funding from the Danish government to get it underway.
"It is ironical that the plant is distantly related to Japanese knotweed," said Prof Orlip.
"The plant family that has given us so much trouble has now given us a solution to many of our problems."
