Technosols Derived from Mining, Urban, and Agro-Industrial Waste for the Remediation of Metal(loid)-Polluted Soils: A Microcosm Assay Aguilar Garrido, Antonio Romero Freire, Ana Paniagua López, Mario Martínez Garzón, Francisco Javier Martín Peinado, Francisco José Sierra Aragón, Manuel Soil pollution Vegetation recovery Potentially toxic elements Waste-derived Technosols Waste valorisation Soil enzymes Toxicity bioassays Trifolium campestre Lactuca sativa This research was funded by the project RTI2018-094327-B-I00 (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation). A.A.-G. thanks the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for their predoc- toral fellowship granted under application references FPU-18/02901; M.P.-L. thanks the Research Project RTI2018-094327-B-I00 (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) for his contract; and A.R-F. thanks the Junta de Andalusia Post-doctoral Operating Research Program FEDER 2014-2020 (ref. E-RNM-444-UGR20) for her contract. Supplementary Materials: The following supporting information can be downloaded at https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/toxics11100854/s1 This study evaluated the effectiveness of six Technosols designed for the remediation of polluted soils (PS) by metal(loid)s at physicochemical, biological, and ecotoxicological levels and at a microcosm scale. Technosols T1–T6 were prepared by combining PS with a mix of organic and inorganic wastes from mining, urban, and agro-industrial activities. After two months of surface application of Technosols on polluted soils, we analysed the soil properties, metal(loid) concentration in total, soluble and bioavailable fractions, soil enzymatic activities, and the growth responses of Trifolium campestre and Lactuca sativa in both the Technosols and the underlying polluted soils. All Technosols improved the unfavourable conditions of polluted soils by neutralising acidity, increasing the OC, reducing the mobility of most metal(loid)s, and stimulating both the soil enzymatic activities and growths of T. campestre and L. sativa. The origin of organic waste used in the Technosols strongly conditioned the changes induced in the polluted soils; in this sense, the Technosols composed of pruning and gardening vermicompost (T3 and T6) showed greater reductions in toxicity and plant growth than the other Technosols composed with different organic wastes. Thus, these Technosols constitute a potential solution for the remediation of persistent polluted soils that should be applied in large-scale and long-term interventions to reinforce their feasibility as a cost-effective ecotechnology. 2023-11-29T09:43:44Z 2023-11-29T09:43:44Z 2023-10-12 journal article Aguilar-Garrido, A.; Romero-Freire, A.; Paniagua-López, M.; Martínez-Garzón, F.J.; Martín-Peinado, F.J.; Sierra-Aragón, M. Technosols Derived from Mining, Urban, and Agro-Industrial Waste for the Remediation of Metal(loid)-Polluted Soils: A Microcosm Assay. Toxics 2023, 11, 854. [https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11100854] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/85917 10.3390/toxics11100854 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI