Page 40 - feb 22_Neat

ECO HUB - Landfill reclamation

In Botswana, we are blessed with space. Space to put landfills for all our rubbish, ground floor
houses with a surrounding yard or garden rather than highrise apartments. And it doesn’t seem
as if the problems besetting other countries could one day be our own, that we might need to
create a greener urban environment or reclaim a landfill area, or drastically reduce our pollution
levels. However if you take a drive around greater Gaborone, you will most likely see stacks of
building rubble around and about. Flying out of Sir Seretse Khama airport in winter when the
leaves have all fallen, you will see lumps of concrete rubble spreading out like a disease. Plots
filled with tyres and disused cars. A visit to one of our overlowing landfill sites might make the
idea of what our future could look like seem rather scary.

So faced with a similar ‘overflowing’ problem Hiriya landfill, situated just southeast of Tel Aviv,
Israel, took a different direction after calls to shut down the site mounted in the wake of the
growing public awareness of environmental pollution, underground water contamination and
the spread of noxious gases. In the late 1990s, artists and international experts were called on to
help search for solutions. Waste disposal and hydraulic engineers, urban planners and landscape
architects were consulted. In 2004, an international competition was held for plans on how to
rehabilitate the mountain of garbage, and turn it into a positive landmark, and was won by Latz
+ Partner.

Today it is now known as Ariel Sharon Park, and is bigger than Central Park in New York. The
waste dump and its surrounding area have been renovated into a large park with walking and
cycling trails, recreational pond, tiny zoo and picnic areas. Three recycling facilities have been
established at the base of the landfill mountain: a waste separation center, a green waste facility
that produces mulch and a building materials recycling plant. Methane gas recovery from the
mound is sold and piped to a nearby textile factory. And a tyre recycling plant will be added
soon according to touristisrael.com.

40