A composition comprising a crosslinked, highly porous body derived from a water-soluble hydrogel polymer, said porous body being characterized in that it has an open-celled three-dimensional lattice structure, a density of less than about 1.0 g/cm.sup.3, a surface area of equal to or greater than about 300 m.sup.2 /g, a compression strength of equal to or less than about 10 percent yield at 300 psi, and an average pore diameter of less than about 500 Angstroms, wherein said hydrogel polymer is selected from the group consisting of alginates, gums, starch, dextrins, agar, gelatins, casein, collagen, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylenimine, acrylate polymers, starch/acrylate copolymers, and mixtures and copolymers thereof; and a metal extractant.The composition may be used in removing and/or recovering metal ions from aqueous streams.A process of recovering metal ions from an aqueous metal ion solution including the steps of impregnating a metal extractant within the porous body described above, contacting the aqueous ion solution with the impregnated porous body in order to remove the metal ions therefrom, and separating the ions from the impregnated porous body.