Green Remediation Case Histories

For too many decades, remediation projects have been evaluated solely by determining how much contaminant can be removed from soil and groundwater in the shortest possible time. Given what we now know about energy scarcity and global warming, it makes little sense, environmentally or economically, to emit tons of greenhouse gases into the air in order to remove pounds of contaminants from soil and water. Too many remediation projects essentially trade one form of pollution for another. This costs a lot of money, burns a lot of fuel, and does not result in a net environmental benefit. In the past, valuable remediation resources have been squandered hauling contaminated soil & debris from hazardous waste sites to landfills that have also become “Superfund” sites. 

Sustainable remediation incorporates a judicious evaluation of limited resources when selecting and implementing remedies to maximize the net environmental, societal, and economic benefits of a cleanup action. From a sustainable development perspective, two case histories will be presented to show how green remediation can be applied to remediate hazardous materials in soil & groundwater.