DEPUE – Living within a Superfund site certainly has its disadvantages, but DePue students have discovered a way to transform the downfall into opportunity.

Within the last couple years, the student environmental group has proactively developed a method that encapsulates and immobilizes contaminates in soil, sediment, sludge and waste piles.

The challenge was sparked after students tested and found high levels of heavy metals in the topsoil of residential areas in DePue. The environmental group decided to begin researching materials and methods that could reduce the environmental and health risks.