In soil, hemp can absorb heavy metals like cadmium, lead, uranium, and more, through processes such as phytoextraction and phytostabilisation. In one recent 2025 study, hemp planted in metal-contaminated soil accumulated uranium and cadmium, especially when supported by nutrient amendments and biodegradable chelators. Meanwhile, adding biochar to contaminated soil has been shown to boost hemp’s ability to stabilise and extract toxic elements.
When it comes to water, hemp-derived materials have been used to remove heavy metals, dyes, pharmaceuticals, and other pollutants from aqueous environments. For air, while research is still more limited, hemp’s fast growth and large biomass make it a promising candidate for absorbing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulates, although this remains mostly at the lab scale.
Despite the promise, the review also highlights important challenges. Large-scale deployment is still rare, there are questions about what to do with polluted hemp biomass after it’s harvested, and the lack of standardised protocols makes implementation tricky.
Still, the evidence is building: hemp could become a scalable, sustainable solution for integrated environmental clean-up, if we can navigate the technical, regulatory, and logistical hurdles.
Photo by Elmar Gubisch
