BioGenesis Washing BGW, LLC has begun full-scale operations to decontaminate and reuse for beneficial purposes contaminated dredged material from the New York/New Jersey Harbor. The BioGenesis washing technology involves slurrying the dredged material with surfactants, mixing them violently and extracting the mineral from the water fraction of the sediment. Strong oxidizers are then used to destroy the organics. The metals are treated through conventional technologies, either on site or at a sewage treatment plant. The minerals are separated from the water through centrifugation. The resulting clean aggregate can be used as a base for the manufacture of topsoil.

Some 4 million cubic yards of sediment reportedly must be dredged annually from the berths and navigation channels in and around the New York/New Jersey Harbor. Fifty percent of this material cannot be dumped in the ocean, because it is too contaminated for sensitive marine environments. In 1997, all ocean dumping of contaminated sediment was banned. As a result, contaminated sediments have had to be disposed of on land. They have been used for beneficial purposes, such as building golf courses and parking lots and filling in abandoned mines. However, long-term solutions to dealing with contaminated sediments require new approaches. BioGenesis Washing says that its technology provides an alternative to the problem of managing harbor sediments polluted by industrial and urban chemical waste and stormwater runoff.