ABSTRACT
Sites used by the chemical industry including the soil, groundwater, and the facilities themselves are often polluted by a range of industrial products and substrates. Great efforts are undertaken nowadays to remove these contaminants and bioremediation is often the method of choice. In a specific recent case, the demolition of a former herbicide production plant resulted in concrete debris that is heavily polluted with hazardous chemicals, i.e., a mixture of chlorinated and methylated phenols and phenoxyalkanoic acids. As these compounds are toxic, this material must be safely disposed of or, preferably, the pollutants must be removed. In both ecological and economic terms, we favor decontamination by microbially mediated degradation. Applying this philosophy ought to enable the reutilization of the contaminated concrete debris.
