Oncioiu, IonicaIonicaOncioiuGrecu, EugeniaEugeniaGrecuMasu, SmarandaSmarandaMasuMorariu, FloricaFloricaMorariuPopa, MariaMariaPopa2019-10-222019-10-222018-100944-1344http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1527Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2018, 25, pp. 35548–35554One of the challenges brought by the circular economy requires a reconsideration of waste, which may under certain circumstances turn into genuine resources. By extension, soil pollution with heavy metal is a major concern since it directly affects the health of the population. The goal of the present research work is to analyze the impact of the use of waste from other technological processes in agriculture: fly ash (resulting ash from thermal power plants), zeolite bush (resulting from the processing of rock from zeolite quarries), and manure (garbage from zoo technical farms). In this respect, complex treatments based on inorganic substances (fly ash and volcanic indigenous tuff with 70% clinoptilolite) were applied to less-favored agricultural soils in the absence and in the presence of an organic fertilizer (manure), respectively. After cultivating sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.),a semi-early hybrids grown in the type soil which fly ash has been applied,there have been obtained\ seed crops 15.8% higher than the seed crops grown in the soil on which no fertilizer has been applied. The results obtained when combining fly ash and manure tend to amoun to those obtained when combining manure with indigenous volcanic tuff with 70% clinoptilolite.The quality of the seed crops, obtained in the case of the three types of soil on which amendments were added in the absence/presence of the fertilizer, corresponds to the requirements of the national rules and allows their food processing.en-USEnvironmental pollutionSeed cropsHelianthus annuus LAgricultural wasteFly ashHuman healthArticle10.1007/s11356-018-3444-6