Presentation Title:
Regenerative Remediation: Generating Sustainable Post-Remediation Human and Ecological Value from Impaired Properties

Formatted Title:

Regenerative Remediation: Generating Sustainable Post-Remediation Human and Ecological Value from Impaired Properties

Background/Objectives:

Cleanup of contaminated properties is essential for environmental improvement, but traditional remediation processes can be energy and resource-intensive, resulting in unintended environmental and community impacts. Growing awareness of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, use cleaner energy, conserve resources, and address impacts on surrounding communities has increased the demand for greener technologies and sustainable practices in remediation. By integrating sustainable approaches throughout the remediation project lifecycle, we can further improve the environment and surrounding community, enhance resiliency, and provide optimized short- and long-term solutions that maximize value for our clients.

Most sustainable remediation practices to date have focused on greening the remedy, ensuring that the remedy itself is conducted in a manner that minimizes environmental footprint, and capturing these impacts and savings through key performance indicator calculators. As a result, site owners across differing geographies continue to have surplus properties, brownfield legacies, and inactive sites that may have been cleaned up to risk-based standards, with embedded sustainable factors, but are not providing value to the owner or the community.

Site remediation and restoration represent a unique opportunity to enhance many key elements of the world we live in. Through innovative sustainable and nature-based solutions, not only can we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but we can also enhance land and water use, increase ecosystem services, support biodiversity, and transform communities.

Approach/Activities:

A regenerative remediation approach creates both ecological and community uplift during site remediation and restoration. It looks beyond quantitative remedial objectives and cleanup goals on blighted properties to embrace a post-remediation vision that is self-sustaining with positive impacts on human health, the environment, carbon cycle, biodiversity, and resiliency. Regenerative remediation encourages collaboration with our clients and the local community to transform blighted properties into valuable ecological and human health assets.

Regenerative remediation projects can ignite ecological uplift through nature-based solutions, such as bioremediation and phytoremediation; restoring ecosystems with native species, pollinator habitats, wetlands, and natural shorelines; and promoting wildlife preservation. Community uplift can be spurred through incorporating public spaces with urban gardens, green and natural infrastructure features into site restoration, incorporating clean energy generation, and infusing educational opportunities.

Results/Lessons Learned:

The regenerative remediation philosophy provides layered, compounding, and often perpetual societal, ecological, and economic benefits. When combined with nature-based solutions that are tied into the community culture, common benefits include improved health, increased biodiversity, enhanced water quality, educational and recreational opportunities, and sustained community identity and growth.

Donald Seward

Affiliation

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C8.: Energy and Greenhouse Gas Footprint of Bioremediation (Posters)