Dive summary:

• Leachate, the toxic cocktail of precipitation mixed with metals, salts and other chemicals in landfills can create a huge problem, a new study, however, shows that the big problem can be solved with a tiny blade of grass called Vetiver.
• The grass, which is native to India, provides a low cost, low maintained and environmentally friendly way to treat the otherwise toxic water.
• Republic Services is running the project and most recently has used the grass to treat a 3-acre plot in Biloxi, Miss. last year.

From the article:

Leachate is a pain. The liquid produced when water (usually from precipitation) drains through a landfill can be a toxic cocktail of dissolved or suspended metals, salts and other chemicals. It looks nasty, smells even worse and, if not handled properly, has the potential to contaminate ground and surface water, especially in older landfills that lack an impermeable liner. Even with modern containment systems, the process of collecting, transporting and treating leachate can rack up costs, a major headache for everyone involved.

But a new remediation technology taking hold in landfills could make managing trash juice less of a hassle. ...