The phenomenal industrial and agricultural growth that has occurred over the last century has led to a massive increase in the amount and complexity of toxic wastes that make their way into the environment each year. Bioremediation involves the use of living processes within microorganisms or even plants (phytoremediation) to degrade the harmful by-products of human activity. Hazardous chemicals in the environment can be removed or converted into less toxic forms by bacteria and fungi that may degrade these materials and thus aid in decontaminating polluted sites (in situ bioremediation) or in removing pollutants from water and soil pumped into a treatment facility (ex situ bio-treatment). Bioremediation involves helping the growth of specific beneficial microbes and creating the optimal environment for pollutant detoxification. Bio-degradation works very well for several types of organic wastes and is a cost-effective, natural strategy to deal with chemical pollution. Other applications include removal of pesticide residues from agricultural lands by creating a continual cleanup system. An added benefit of such a system is that of self-regulation since many of these microbes depend on these pollutants or on the pathway that leads to the degradation of these chemicals for survival; the numbers of these microbes are thus controlled by the level of pollutant in the environment. Bioreactors, where the process of bioremediation can occur in a controlled environment, have been used for the remediation of water and soil contaminated with fuel hydrocarbons and recalcitrant industrial organics. Different microorganisms breakdown different types of compounds and require different conditions for survival. By using a cocktail of microbial species, both the range of pollutants degraded and the effectiveness of the cleanup process can be enhanced. Furthermore, genetic engineering can be used to make the genetic pathways responsible for such bioremediation more effective or to expand the repertoire of chemicals that the microbes can break down. Such designer microbes, tailor-made to handle new classes of chemical wastes, may be the next generation of cleanup specialists.
So, make waste reduction a priority and support eco-friendly methods of waste management!
