What is phytoremediation and for which contaminants is it most suitable?

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Phytoremediation is a plant-based cleanup approach that uses living plants to take up, break down, or immobilize contaminants in soil, water, or sediments. Plants can pull metals from the environment and store them in harvestable parts (phytoextraction), enzymatically break down organic pollutants (phytodegradation), or stabilize contaminants in place to reduce their mobility (phytostabilization). Some plants and their root-associated microbes can also remove contaminants from water (rhizofiltration) or even release volatile forms of pollutants into the air (phytovolatilization). This method is most useful for certain metals and some organic pollutants, especially when contaminants are accessible to plant roots and present at concentrations manageable by plant physiology. It’s a relatively low-cost, sustainable option, but it can be slow and is highly site- and contaminant-specific. The other descriptions don’t fit phytoremediation: it doesn’t involve animals degrading pollutants, it isn’t chemical soil treatment, and it isn’t burying waste to isolate it.