TURNING POISON INTO PARADISE: FIRST PURIFYING PARK

It’s counterintuitive to consider that plants can grow well -- even thrive -- on polluted soil. But some can, and do in such a powerful way that these plants are being used to remediate toxic wastelands, restoring them to pictures of health.

In a process known as phytoremediation, living plants are employed to clean up soil, air, and water contaminated with hazardous chemicals.

A number of species of plants are especially adept at concentrating elements and compounds from the environment and metabolizing them into various molecules in their own tissues, degrading toxins in soils water and air into harmless compounds and elements.

Phytoextraction, one form of phytoremediation, has been growing rapidly in popularity worldwide for just over 20 years, mainly for extracting heavy metals, such as lead, uranium, and arsenic, from contaminated landscapes.

One of the most exciting new phytoremediation initiatives underway today is happening at  De Ceuvel, in Amsterdam, which has been sustainably developing a piece of industrial wasteland. It features a Purifying Park filled with indigenous plants that are pulling the toxins out of the soil and water and turning the land into place where children can safely play and people can safely live.

The Purifying Park, designed and directed by garden designer Anke Wijnja, of Bureau Fonkel, is now happily growing willows, foxgloves, and other purifying workhorses -- the difference they are making is astounding.

In just over two years, De Ceuvel has been transformative. Architecture firm space&matter designed the plan around houseboats floating on polluted soil, while DELVA Landscape Architects designed the outdoor spaces.

Pioneering technologies and use cases that include a biogas boat, a floating garden, a urine recycling system, a DIY aquaponics system, and an advanced phytoremediation based public park, De Ceuvel is becoming the first of its kind --  a remediated clean, healthy urban green oasis.

The whole De Ceuvel community is serving as a micro-experiment, testing designs and technologies that could be scaled up for larger neighborhoods and big cities.

Soil at the De Ceuvel site had been contaminated for over a century with oils and heavy metals, such as zinc and copper, that are all extremely toxic.

All plant roots soak up nutrients from soil and water. Wijnja orchestrated specialized phytoextractive plantings to soak up the site-specific toxins then break them down into non-toxins.

Phytoextraction is extremely environmentally friendly and it’s far less expensive than other pollution remediations. It does, however, take more time, as the plants work more slowly than chemical or mechanical methods.

Earlier examples where phytoremediation has been used successfully include the restoration of abandoned metal mine workings, and sites where polychlorinated biphenyls have been dumped in ongoing coal mine discharges.

Contaminants such as metals, pesticides, solvents, explosives, as well as crude oil and its derivatives, have been mitigated in phytoremediation projects worldwide.

As metal accumulates in these plants, they become treasure troves -- phytomining is an emerging industry. Plants that lead the pack in performance are considered hyperaccumulators. Hyperaccumulation can also be induced or assisted by adding a chelator or other agent to the soil to increase metal solubility so plants can absorb them more easily.

Examples of phytoextractive and hyperaccumulator plants and their target contaminants include:

• Fireweed (Achillea millefolium)
• Chinese Brake Fern (Pteris vittata) - Arsenic
• Alpine pennycress (Thlaspi caerulescens) - Cadmium, zinc,
• Willow (Salix viminalis) - Cadmium, zinc, copper

• Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) - Arsenic, caesium-137, strontium-90
• Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) - Lead
• Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) - Lead
• Hemp dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) - Lead
• Poplar trees (Populus) - Lead

• Water hyacinth - Arsenic
• Halophytic barley (Hordeum vulgare) - Sodium chloride (reclaiming fields flooded by sea water)
• Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) - Sodium chloride (reclaiming fields flooded by sea water)
• Transgenic plants - Mercury, selenium, polychlorinated biphenyls

Here is a more extensive Table of hyperaccumulators.

For more information on De Ceuvel check out their Facebook pages and take a video tour around the site.

Read more about Beautiful Firsts in  Heavenly New Escapes, Beautiful Breakthrough Cures: CRISPR and First Things First: Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: De Ceuvel Purifying Park. Courtesy of DELVA Landscape Architects & space&matter. North Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2. Image: De Ceuvel Purifying Park. Courtesy of DELVA Landscape Architects & space&matter. North Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. Image: by Adam Nowek. “De Ceuvel.” Courtesy of De Ceuvel. North Amsterdam, Netherlands.
4. Image: by Emorsgate Seeds. “Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove) and White-tailed Bumblebee.”
5. Image: Purifying plants planted at De Ceuvel Purifying Park. Courtesy of DELVA Landscape Architects.
6. Image: by Linda Tanner. “Water Hyacinth Maybe.” Digitalis purpurea.
7. Image: by Matt Lavin. “Lolium multiflorum.” Lolium perenne.
8. Image: by Travis. “Fireweed & Cotton Grass.”
9. Image: by JR P. “Gibbs Willow Revised.” Willow.
10. Image: by bgeissl. “Fireweed.” Achillea millefolium.
11. Image: by Daisuke tashiro. “Sunflower.”
12. Image: by Coniferconifer. “Not a dream.” Water Hyacinth.
13. Image: by Likeaduck. “Water Lily.”
14. Image: by 小佳 顏. “soft color.” Waterlily.
15. Image: by Colin. “Verticals.” Poplar trees.
16. Image: by elminium. “Brassica juncea.”
17. Image: by Màrtainn MacDhòmhnaill. “Beinn Sgritheall bho dh' Àrainn Chaluim Chille.”