Greening the Steel Slag Dump

Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, has converted steel plant dumps in Odisha into a greenery hub by using a mix of traditional resource of Panchagavya and Miyawaki plantation technique developed by Prof Akira Miyawaki of Japan. The dumping of blast furnace slag by steel plants has been a perennial challenge in India generating airborne particles causing pollution and also to groundwater and surface-water contamination through different pathways. The slag was made suitable for plant growth by mixing it with topsoil, cow dung and other organic enhancers. Plants carefully chosen for the Miyawaki technique and 22 native species were grown on the mix with a 30cm layer of topsoil over it administering them with Panchagavya.
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