ABSTRACT
Pollution is one of the most threatening current issues for humans and the environment. To attain the better economic growth and employment opportunities, most nations have encouraged the setup of industries. Besides contributing to economic growth, these industries have also caused the degradation of nonreplenishable natural resources such as land and water due to discharge of complex inorganic and organic waste and associated byproducts. In the past few decades, considerable attention has been given to controlling environmental pollution for sustainability of life on the planet Earth. Several conventional chemical- and engineering-based techniques have been utilized for the treatment and restoration of contaminated environments, for example, soil washing, soil vapor extraction, electrokinetic, solidification, and encapsulation. However, these techniques are neither eco-friendly nor economically viable; furthermore, they also produce by-products that are not only hazardous but produce safe disposal problems, too. Phytoremediation is one of the emerging eco-friendly and cost-efficient technologies, providing an alternative to cope with the situation. It uses green plants, herbs, shrubs, weeds, and aquatic macrophytes to degrade, accumulate, extract, and immobilize toxic metals and other contaminants into the plants’ roots and aerial parts, from the soil and water. Weeds are unwanted plants that are considered to be the pests for cereals and other economically important crops by competing for nutrients, light, water, and other requirements. These are more aggressive in terms of their growth and development in soil and water. Aggressive behavior and the inbuilt competitive nature of these weeds offers an opportunity for the extraction of contaminants from the growing medium and can be effectively utilized for the eco-restoration of industrial polluted sites. This chapter will provide a detailed account of different commonly occurring weeds as potential phytoremediators of polluted industrial sites and various methods for the restoration of degraded ecosystem.
