Israel Turns 2,000 Acre Trash Dump into One of World's Largest Parks
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York 
on 11.16.08
Image courtesy of Park Ayalon
For decades, Hiriya, a 2,000 acre garbage dump, has sat on the outskirts of Tel Aviv as an ecological and aesthetic blight. At its center was Hiriya Mountain—a massive 230 foot mound of waste. But after an intensive national revitalization effort the eyesore has reemerged as Ayalon Park, and the mountain is being transformed into an eco-tourism attraction replete with terraces, ridge groves and footpaths for hiking. When completed, it will rank as one of the largest metropolitan parks in the world.
Ayalon Park will serve as a 24 hour destination for recreation in Israel, as well as a learning center designed to educate visitors about recycling and other ecologically friendly practices.
Details on the rehabilitation are limited, but much of the project seems to have been made possible by a massive recycling center that wraps around the base of the giant trash mountain:
"The Recycling Center, which spans 75 acres, is located at the base of the "healed" mountain, and currently operates the most innovative technologies for recycling waste."
The center, currently operating, will be open to visitors curious about the massive recycling effort.
Hiriya has been mostly abandoned since 1952, tended to only by sanitation staff—it received daily loads of trash from garbage trucks from around Tel Aviv. Now, incoming waste is instead sorted by the state-of-the art recycling facility, and Ayalon Park is expected to receive thousands of visitors a day.
Related Articles:
EPA's 1st "Excellence in Site Reuse" Award Goes to Tallahassee's ...
Israel : Political Vacuum Leads to Slew of Green Laws : TreeHugger
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Now that is something! Its great to see Israel Gov are doing their bit. Now if only China would do the same.
Imagine living next to it when it was just a dump, it was huge.
All dumps should be strictly regulated with recycling policies.
Good article. Thanks.
Wow, that is truly amazing.
jess
http://www.anonymity.cz.tc
Just driving past it when it was active was something your nostrils couldn't forget... but not these days.
Its amazing what people can do if they put there mind to it. I agree with the other comment that dumps should enforce better recycling policies.