Tel Aviv turns massive dump into park
Posted: Thursday, November 08, 2007 2:16 PM
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Tel Aviv, Israel
By Paul Goldman, NBC News Producer
Most of us think garbage is a stinky business, but for Doron Sapir, it’s part of his life and work.
Until 1999, Sapir’s knowledge about recycling was limited to throwing away his own garbage, but then he was appointed to the unpleasant job of taking care of 2,700 tons of garbage produced by the city of Tel Aviv and its surrounding area every day.
Today he can proudly say that he has not only transformed the Hiriya dump, one of Tel Aviv’s main dumping grounds for over 40 years, into the largest and most advanced environmental center in Israel, but he has also helped pave the way for the development of a huge public park twice the size of New York’s Central Park.
A stinking mess
The Hiriya dump was established in 1952, and by 1999 it had risen to a height of 200 feet and stretched nearly a mile long.
The massive heap contributed to the greenhouse effect by emitting large quantities of biogas, which consists of methane and carbon dioxide. These gases are formed by the decomposition of organic substances found in compacted garbage piles.
Sapir, together with the Dan Region Association of Towns, decided to turn the dump site into a waste transfer station to sort and recycle the garbage.
Standing on top of a hill at the dump, Sapir points to a tube sticking out of the earth, and explains that there are 60 similar gas wells that collect methane gas and transport it by hose to a nearby factory. The factory, like the Hiriya site, produces all its electricity from this recycled gas.
Every day, 1,000 trucks arrive at the Hiriya center and unload waste from households, army camps and hospitals around the city of Tel Aviv. Some of the garbage is sifted in a very simple but ingenious manner: the waste is thrown into a big pool of water where heavy metals sink and plastic and paper float. Plastic, iron and metal are then sent to recycling plants in Israel.
Special machines shred garden waste, which in turn gets recycled and used for making garden compost.
Huge crushing machines handle the recycling of construction materials into new cement which is used to support the steep slopes of the landfill and build new roads.
Ariel Sharon Park
Sapir’s vision was not only to rehabilitate the former garbage dump but also to create a huge public park.
Last week, both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres adopted his vision. In a ceremony on the top of a hill at the Hiriya dump, Olmert and Peres dedicated the new 2,000-acre park to former prime minister Ariel Sharon, who is still hospitalized after suffering a stroke over a year ago.
The $250 million dollar park project will take 10 to 20 years to complete, but some walking and biking paths are already open to the public along the Ayalon River, offering a view of the Mediterranean coast.
And how are they going to create park benches for future visitors? All the wood that is found among the garbage is being saved and transferred to the on-site carpentry shop and turned into garden benches.
