Green and sustainable remediation is a rapidly growing field of interest to all stakeholder groups including governmental agencies, corporations, environmental consultants and public interest groups. According to EPA, green remediation is the practice of considering all environmental effects of cleaning up a contaminated site and incorporating options to minimize the environmental footprint of cleanup actions.
One such organization, The Sustainable Remediation Forum (SURF), started in 2006 to promote the use of sustainable practices during remedial action activities with the objective of balancing economic viability, conservation of natural resources and biodiversity and the enhancement of the quality of life in surrounding communities. SURF's primary objective is to provide a forum for various stakeholders in remediation – industry, government agencies, environmental groups, consultants, and academia – to collaborate, educate, advance, and develop consensus on the application of sustainability concepts throughout the lifecycle of remediation projects, from site investigation to closure.
Advocates agree that standards are needed in this area to promote and encourage more green cleanup. The ASTM is working to develop the Guide for Green and Sustainable Site Assessment and Cleanup which may be available as early as 2011. SURF also is working on its SURF Framework for Integrating Sustainability Into Remediation Projects also anticipated in mid-2011.
Significant information about green remediation can be found at EPA's Contaminated Site Clean-up Information website, commonly referred to as CLU-IN. SURF's 2009 White Paper on sustainable remediation also provides helpful insight into this developing field and is available at http://sustainableremediation.org/.