Wastewater containing toxic heavy metals & industrial dyes is a serious environmental dilemma. Scientists in India have developed a nanomaterial drawn from seaweed to effectively treat toxic wastewater. Membrane-based filtration generally can’t filter out heavy metal pollutants, but researchers have synthesized a carbon based nanocomposite derived from seaweed which has shown a strong absorption capacity for various cationic and anionic dyes as well as lead and chromium. With seaweed being used as the starting material, this carbon-based cleaning process is fully “green” without the use of chemicals.