By Laura Mordas-Schenkein / Source: Inhabitat

Hiriya

One of the most notorious landfills in the world is situated right outside Tel Aviv and has been known to Israelis for decades as “Garbage Mountain” or “Sh!t Mountain”. This toxic garbage mound, Hiriya Mountain, could apparently be smelled for miles, and once brimmed with over 25 million TONS of trash, spanning a half a mile long and over 87 yards above sea level. Yet today, it stands as Israel’s iconic and beloved Ariel Sharon Park as well as one of the world’s largest recycling facilities, functioning with a motto of “making garbage beautiful.”

Every day, Hiriya sorts 3,000 tons of household waste, 1,500 tons of construction debris and 250 tons of landscape matter, and transforms it into fuel, fertilizer, electricity, water for irrigation, and even garden furniture, in what may be one of the greatest landfill transformations the world has ever seen. Read on to learn how Hiriya is decreasing its carbon impact on the environment each day, with the help of landscape architect and urban planner Peter Latz and his visionary design that has turned trash into treasure.

Hiriya-

The mountainous landfill that once stood in Tel Aviv between 1952 and 1999 formerly housed an unfathomable amount of waste. After nearly 16 million cubic meters of trash neared imminent collapse into the Ayalon riverbed and Tel Aviv’s pollution level continued to worsen, an outraged community forced its closure in 1998. After closing, Israel hosted The International Competition for the Reclamation of the Hiriya Landfill and Peter Latz was chosen from 14 architects and urban planners for his innovative concept for transforming the garbage mound into usable, verdant land.

Read more @ Inhabitat