TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - BIOTECHNOLOGY - Preferred Chemical Composition: (I) further comprising one or more plant materials chosen from Gossypium and Cannbacea, from 1-89%, by weight percent, of the composition, an inorganic source of electron acceptors and an ammonium-free source of inorganic nutrient nitrogen chosen from sodium nitrate, sodium-potassium nitrate, potassium nitrate, and its combination, from 0.1-40%, by weight percent, of the composition, a source of nutrient phosphorus and a surfactant chosen from sodium hexmetaphosphate, sodium trimetaphosphates, other biologically hydrolyzable ringed metaphosphates and linear polyphosphates, and its combinations, from 0.02-20%, by weight percent of the composition, a source of chelating agents, acidifying agents, or organic acids, chosen from citric acid, humic acid, fulvic acid, sodium citrate, nitrotriacetic acid (NTA), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), and their combinations, from 0.01-5%, by weight percent, of the composition. In (I), the plant source of plant material chosen from Triticum, and Aeqilops and their combinations, from 0.5-30%, by weight percent, of the composition, the plant materials are further chosen from Lespedeza spp., Medicago spp., Vicia spp., Glycine spp., Lathyrus spp., Trifolium spp., and their combination. The plant material is further chosen from marine plant genus Sargassum. In (I), the source of iron comprises sponge iron particles, being a porous from of iron particles, the source of Mn(IV) is further chosen from metallic manganese, pyrolusite, and psilomelane. The bacteria includes microbes chosen from Rhizobium spp., Bradyrhizobium spp., Fibrobacter spp., Clostridium spp., Pseudomonas spp., Geobacter spp., Arthrobacter spp., Nocardia spp., Bacillus spp., Aspergillus spp. and Trichoderma spp., or chosen from microorganisms associated with acid-mine drainage and the waste products from the treatment of acid-mine drainage. The plant material is chosen from cotton lint or other fibrous cotton-containing materials or wastes produced by the cultivation or processing of cotton, cotton plants, and cotton seed or the plant material is chosen from fibrous plant materials or wastes produced by the cultivation or processing of hemp plants or hops plants, or chosen from one or more of the of fibrous plant material and wastes produced by the cultivation or processing of wheat, oats, barley, and rye. (I) further comprises an inorganic source of electron acceptors and an ammonium-free source of inorganic nutrient nitrogen and either electron-acceptor or nutrient forms of iron and/or manganese for anaerobic microorganisms capable of denitrification processes, chosen from ferric nitrate, manganese nitrate, manganese nitrate tetrahydrate, or manganese nitrate hexahydrate. The components of the composition are in a form chosen from powders, flour, pellets, tablets, capsules, meals, mids, husks, hulls, hays, straws and their combination. The components of the composition is in the dehydrated, dried, or freeze-dried forms. The components of the composition are comprised of medium sand, fine sand, silt-or clay-sized particles, and their combination. The proportion of the source of Mn(IV) to the source of iron, by weight, is in the range of 0.01-0.75. The nutrient nitrogen to total phosphate-phosphorus of the nutrient phosphorus are in the range of 1:2-50:1. The plant materials are cultivated in-situ within the contaminated media through the planting and growth of the plants or cultivated subsequently overwintered in-situ through their exposure to one or more periods of freezing temperatures, where the composition are in the form pellets, tablets, capsules, or any its combinations. (I) further comprising processing and/or binding agents chosen from additional plant-derived materials or wastes, starch, molasses, barley malt extract, corn syrup, vegetable oils, mineral oils, surfactants, oil/water emulsions, fats or lards, animal oils, glycerine, gelatine, bentonite, montmonllonite, kaolinite calcium carbonate, and portland cement, and any its combinations, from 0.01-7%, by weight percent, of the composition, where the amounts of the other components of the composition by weight are adjusted downward in such manner so as to maintain the relative proportions of the other components. (I) is supplemented with a liquid-chemical composition which contains one or more components chosen from nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, surfactants, alcohols, ketones vegetables oils, mineral oils, sugars, starches, corn syrup, barley malt extract, molasses, humic acids, fulvic acids, chelating agents, and acidifying agents. EXAMPLE - A pilot-scale test was initiated which involved the application of the solid chemical composition to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)-contaminated sludge materials at an industrial site. The sludge material posed the additional challenge in that its solid matrix was primarily comprised of gypsum. Several previous studies have indicated that the presence of sulfates tends to inhibit the microbial degradation of PCBs, PAHs and other recalcitrant contaminants. Nonetheless, the most recent data available from the ongoing experiment has indicated that the levels of PCB aroclors and heavy hydrocarbons in the sludge were reduced by nearly 40% and 55% percent, respectively, 27 days after treatment with the composition. Other observations, such as a preferential loss of low-molecular weight PCB congeners and shifts in the congener profiles towards less-chlorinated congeners, provided additional evidence that the chemical composition used in the study was able to effectively and rapidly reduce PCB and PAH levels in the gypsum sludge despite the presence of extremely high levels of sulfate.