Abstract

Heavy metal contamination of the biosphere has increased sharply over the last century. Anthropogenic activities such as industrialisation and demographic growth can be considered as the main causes of it. Soil contamination affects every organism and poses major environmental and human health problems worldwide. The issue has been addressed in the past and a few methodologies have been developed in order to effectively clean up the contaminated areas. However, many of these remedies are very aggressive and can damage the soil. This paper focuses on the use of gentler techniques, which take advantage of the properties of several plants and wildflowers that absorb heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and their potential application in megacities such as Hong Kong.