Harnessing Phytoremediation for Sustainable Management of Chlorolignin‐Contaminated Environment: Bridging the Gap between Environmental Technology and Eco‐Restoration

ABSTRACT The eco‐restoration of sites polluted with chlorolignin waste generated by the pulp and paper industry (PPI) has emerged as a persistent global challenge, requiring urgent attention from the scientific community. Traditional waste management approaches are currently ineffective in the complete decontamination of chlorolignin waste‐polluted sites. Phytoremediation has been broadly considered a possible emerging, inexpensive, and green biotechnological tool to immobilize, degrade, and/or remediate heavy metals and chlorolignin compounds from the contaminated sites. Several articles about the assessment of the phytoremediation efficacy of plants to remediate waste pollutants from PPI have been published. However, accumulation, detoxification, or removal of chloroorganics, including heavy metals, by plants from polluted water, soil, and sludge has not been reviewed extensively. The primary aim of this article is to critically review the feasibility of using aquatic and terrestrial plants applied for the management and eco‐restoration of sites polluted with chlorolignin pollutants discharged in PPI waste and identify areas for further studies. The significance of ongoing screening of novel indigenous plants, especially those previously unnoticed as weeds, has been emphasized. Further, this review provides additional information about the ultrastructural and biochemical changes of certain species of plants that can cope with these stressful conditions posed by the high concentrations of chemical contaminants present in PPIW‐polluted sites. The current challenges associated with restoring polluted sites using plants have been discussed. The current review, for the first time, focuses strictly on cleaning up contaminated environments or rendering them harmless chlorolignin waste‐polluted sites with phytoremediation technology.