Appeal for contaminated land for bio-fertiliser research

Professor Peter Leggo, of the Department of Earth Sciences at the university, is frustrated at the lack of options to put his theories into practice.

The professor’s and fellow researchers are confident, many years of work, will show their bio-fertiliser can help clean contaminated land and especially land damaged by mining and refining.

The work, which can be viewed here, looks at how plant growth can be levelled and increased on acid mine waste.

Professor Leggo told edie: “The research I have been doing over the last decade has resulted in the development of a very efficient bio-fertilizer which enables plants to be sustained on the most highly contaminated mine and refinery metal waste sites.

“My colleagues and I have written many peer reviewed papers and we would now like to trial the bio-fertilizer on soil contaminated by organic compounds.

“We think our efforts stand a high chance of success but unless we can get access to a suitable site we will never know.”

Anyone interested in helping the research can contact the professor through his department here.

Luke Walsh