According to a recent survey from the San Diego, Calif.-based Environmental Business International, Inc. (EBI), publisher of Environmental Business Journal, the U.S. market for remediating hazardous waste sites and other "impaired" or brownfield properties enjoyed a healthy growth rate of 6 percent during 2005. 

"What we once called privately instigated cleanups accounted for ten percent of revenues in 1990," said EBI President Grant Ferrier. "What we now call 'redevelopment cleanups' will account for one-third of more than $7 billion in remediation revenues in 2006, and fueled growth of almost six percent in 2005-the highest growth rate for the segment since 1992."

EBI's data indicate that excavation and off-site treatment/disposal is the leading cleanup method for soil, accounting for 37 percent of projects in the 2006 survey. By contrast, capping and containment have fallen in popularity, down from 24 percent of reported projects in 2004 to 13.5 percent this year. For groundwater cleanup, air stripping (27 percent) and carbon adsorption (22 percent) remain the preferred methods, but air sparging (which involves the injection of contaminant-free air into the subsurface saturated zone, enabling a phase transfer of hydrocarbons from a dissolved state to a vapor phase) is gaining in popularity.

For more information on the survey, visit www.ebiusa.com.