Utilization of Industrial Waste as a fertilizer in Ornamental Plants

Abstract

ndustrial waste treatment and its disposal are the major challenges in developing countries. In India, approximately 960 million tonnes of waste are generated annually. Metallurgical industries generate about 39.5 million tonnes of inorganic waste which contains heavy metals. Moreover, metallurgical waste treatment and disposal are the main concerns of researchers. In the present study, steel industry pickling sludge and copper industry tailing waste are used as fertilizer in plantation of oleander plant. The log of plant study shows that the copper tailing and pickling sludge mixture generate promising results. Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) studies the effect of heavy metals in plants uptakes. Barium (Ba) is present in the soil of study area and the plant uptake Ba as a contaminant. It has been observed that Ba content is reduced by 90%, therefore Ba contamination can be reduced by uptake in oleander plant. Uptake of other heavy metals is immaterial.