Soil contaminated with heavy metals (e.g., Pb", Cu", and Zn") was treated with aminopoly-saccharide chitosan alone or a strain of the bacterium Bacillus subrilis to determine their effects on metal ion accumulations. Phosphatase and Chitosanase production were also assayed. The combined bacterial-chitosan treatment showed the greater accumulation of Zn2' followed by Cu2+ as compared to single treatments, while Pb2+ did not show a marked accumulation by either single or combined treatments.