The Soil Pollution Crisis in China: Cleanup Presents Daunting Challenge

Recent research findings have brought some rays of hope to China’s beleaguered soil.  The Foshan Jinkuizi Plant Nutrition Company claims to have developed a soil remediation technology specifically designed for China’s heavy-metal polluted soil:  a microorganism that can change the ionic state of heavy metals in the soil, deactivating the pollutants so they do not harm crops.  The company claims that the method is cheap, convenient, easy to use, does not produce any secondary pollution, and is already in commercial production and use.

In another possible breakthrough, in April the Guangdong Geoanalysis Research Center announced a new product, Mont-SH6, which it says is a powerful absorber of toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, mercury, copper, and zinc.  Liu Wenhua, chief engineer at the center, claims that the product can reduce soil cadmium levels by over 90 percent, and that materials and manufacturing costs are low: remediation of 1.48 acres of cadmium-contaminated rice fields with this technique costs about $4,800.  Mass production, according to Liu Wenhua, could bring this down to between $320 and $480.

The Soil Pollution Crisis in China:  Cleanup Presents Daunting Challenge