BACKGROUND: Cultivation area using agricultural plastic film facilities in Korea is rapidly increasing every year; however, it accelerates the salt accumulation in soils due to repeated cultivation and excessive use of chemical fertilizers. Coal ash contains various trace elements and has high potential to be used in agricultural purposes. This research was aimed to improve the quality of salts-accumulated soils and crop growth grown in the plastic film facilities using the soil amendment derived from coal ash and zero-valent iron powder. METHODS AND RESULTS: Soil amendment used in the study was manufactured using coal ash with iron powder and subjected to a typical upland soil for soil quality enhancement and two salts-accumulated soils for crop growth. After one month incubation of the salts-accumulated soils treated with the soil amendment, soil pH increased significantly and soil EC decreased by approximately 50%, compared to the control or the treatment without the soil amendment. Since the soil salts' concentration is proportional to EC, the subjected soil amendment can be proposed as an effective way to overcome soil salts accumulation in agricultural plastic film facilities. For crop growth, the length of roots and stems increased by approximately 10% and the dry weight also increased by a maximum of 75%, compared to the control. CONCLUSION: The soil amendment made from waste resources such as coal ash and zero-valent iron was found to not only be effective in improving salt-accumulated soils and crop yield but also be safe against harmful heavy metals.