TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - BIOLOGY - Preferred Material: The material is charcoal or wood charcoal. The material comprises at least 105 culturable microbes per gram of charcoal. The Material comprises a community of microbial strains from a naturally occurring environment. The microbial community is obtained after incubating a preparation of the source material with the selected substance sufficient to preferentially select for tolerant microbes. The material has an average tube diameter of greater than 2 microns. Preferred Components: The microbes form a bio-film. The microbes are bacteria and/or fungi. The colonizing microbes comprise multiple strains.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ENVIRONMENT - Preferred Method: The method (M1) involves subsequent addition of further nutrients, colonized material, uncolonized material and/or the material (A1) which has been pre-treated prior to microbial colonization. In method (M1), the material is removed and further processed by: i) heavy metal chelation; ii) elevating the temperature of the material to encourage microbial growth; and/or iii) dosing with minerals and/or nutrients. Preferred Components: The substance is a pollutant. The naturally occurring environment is soil, standing water, groundwater, partially degraded organic matter, sewage treatment plants, industrial effluents, industrial waste, sea water, soil, litter and/or waste streams.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Material: The material (A1) has been pre-treated prior to microbial colonization with at least one salt such as dipotassium hydrogenphosphate (K2HPO4), potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2PO4), ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) or sodium chloride (NaCl); at least one mineral nutrient, such as ferrous sulfate (FeSO4), zinc sulfate (ZnSO4), manganese chloride (MnCl2), phosgene (CoCl2), copper chloride (CuCl2), nickel chloride (NiCl2), sodium molybdenum oxide (NaMoO4), boric acid (H3BO4), magnesium (Mg) salt, or calcium (Ca) salt; at least one nutrient such as biotin, folic acid, thiamin HCl, D-calcium pantothenate, vitamin B12, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxal HCl, or para-amino benzoic acid; carbon; and/or nitrogen source. The material (A1) further comprises a selective level of the environmental substance. Preferred Components: The environmental substance is selected from hydrocarbons (preferably benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, trichloroethylene, phenol or chlorinated phenol); cyanide; nitrate; and ammonia. EXAMPLE - Sweet chestnut wood was charred at 450degreesC. Charcoal particles of size classes of 0.5 - 2 mm (small), 2 - 5 mm (medium) and 5 - 15 mm (large) were chosen. Subsequently, from each class size, samples (1 g) were taken and soaked in tryptone soya broth (TSB) till saturation. After draining excess liquid from the sample, each sample was mixed with Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria (105) and the sample was subsequently incubated for one week to allow colonization of the available charcoal surfaces. After incubation, the charcoal was rinsed three times in sterile reverse osmosis (RO) water to remove non-attached bacteria. Subsequently each colonized charcoal sample (0.5 g dry weight) was added to a solution (250 ml) containing CuSO4 (250 parts per million (ppm)). Non-colonized samples were used for comparison. To allow maximum metal adsorption, colonized and non-colonized samples were incubated for 72 hours at 20degreesC on a shaker at 100 rotation per minutes (rpm). Subsequently the charcoal was removed via filtration, ashed and digested in concentrated nitric acid. Copper (Cu) adsorbed onto each sample was estimated using Flame Atomic Adsorption Spectroscopy (FAAS). Copper adsorption (mg/kg charcoal) for small/medium/large colonized and non colonized charcoal sizes was found to be 5200/2300/2300 and 7500/6500/6500 respectively. Charcoal particle size had no significant effect on the ability of non-colonized charcoal to adsorb Cu ions from a solution, suggesting that the time allowed for adsorption was sufficient to reach the inner most pores of the larger charcoal particles. Bacterial colonization reduced the ability of charcoal to adsorb metals by 30% when the charcoal particles were small. Charcoal particle size had a further significant effect on Cu adsorption with large and medium sized colonized particles adsorbing only 50% of the amount of Cu compared to the small colonized particles. Larger particles on the other hand afford more protection for bacteria against toxic effects for e.g. heavy metals.