Former landfill transformed into lush landscape

Landscape architects have restored a former construction waste landfill into a spectacular natural area with waterfalls and vibrant greenbelts.

The ecological rehabilitation of the 140-hectare site in Beijing has been completed ahead of the ninth China International Garden Expo.

"At Splendid Valley, what was the foul and rotten has been transformed into something rare and ethereal," said Hua Weijun, deputy director of the expo's planning office.

Duan Muqi, deputy director of planning and design at the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture, and the person responsible for the Splendid Valley project, said this is the first time the city has turned a landfill this size into a scenic spot.

Duan said in addition to selecting trees resistant to harsh conditions, including Chinese pine, his team has done a lot of work to improve the barren soil, which is mainly sand and gravel mixed with construction waste.

Because of the large amount of the waste, the committee has left the trash underground and covered it with layers of fertile soil.

"To ensure trees survive on a landfill is very challenging, let alone that the area covers a total of 140 hectares," he said. "When we first studied the soil, we were surprised to find that it simply couldn't hold water, and even grass would not survive. We had to replenish it with arable soil."

The project team used earth to transform some pits, which easily lead to soil and water loss, into valleys, and left some to store water.

As Splendid Valley covers a vast area, the rainfall collected will irrigate many trees, Duan said.

"It's hard to imagine that the big bunker, 30 meters deep and covering 20 hectares, has become a valley of flowers and greenery," he said. "We're now planning to plant more than 12 million trees and flowers around the valley."

To make sure the trees survive, Duan said advanced technology, including water-permeable bricks, vertical greening and rainfall and flood utilization systems, are being installed at the site.

Hua said the landfill was formed in the 1970s. More than 2,000 junkmen used to gather there, establishing an illegal dwelling area that made the whole area filthy.

To improve the ecological situation at the landfill, experts decided to use it as an example of how they can return a destroyed area to nature, and then hold an expo on the site displaying their achievements.