Garbage to Games: Converting Landfills to Parks

The City of Davis is currently studying the concept of allowing the development of a sports park on the old landfill. With the combination of excess methane, unattractive aesthetics, and the overall smell a landfill contains, it is not surprising that there is concern. What many do not know is that thousands of landfills are used for new sports parks, golf courses, and even wildlife habitats.

The US Open is played on an old landfill site.

Municipalities all across the United States have gone through a process of covering their landfills up and placing new parks over them. The idea originated in 1916 when Seattle created Genesee Park from its “Rainer Dump”. Since then, many cities have considered alternatives to their waste site. By doing this they help recycle land opposed to building on open, new land. Perhaps one of the most famous dumps turned parks is the Flushing Meadow Park located in Queens, New York City. The famous globe statue along with eye catching fountains and trees is located on top of trash collected in 1935. The area has remained unchanged to this day and has not caused any health or environmental issues.

One of the first widely recognized parks to construct a play area out of their landfill is dated back to 1978. The cleverly titled Mount Trashmore Park is found in Virginia Beach. The area consists of walking/biking paths, two lakes, volleyball courts, two playgrounds, and a skate park. The lakes contain freshwater and allow many species of fish to live there. Along with wisely constructing a park on a landfill, Mount Trashmore also contains gardens that use water efficiently with xeriscaping.  Along with the drip irrigation, xeriscaping promotes the use of native plants in gardens. These native plants are surrounded by paths and little turf to create a more appealing look. The site is very popular and a common tourist area. Although named for human waste, the park does not have an unappealing odor.

The Old Berkeley Landfill now sports a world class view of San Francisco.

More recently in the past two decades, cities have constructed wetlands and sports fields to reuse their landfills. In 1991, Berkeley opened their new park, Cesar Chavez Park, to the public. The park is conveniently placed to view three bay bridges, Alcatraz, and Angel Island. Cesar Chavez Park has something for everyone; there is a dog park, hiking trails, turf areas used for sports, a wetland, and a wildlife sanctuary. This park is also the spot for the annual Kite Festival that occurs in late July.

Many other parks contain similar stories such as  Fresno Regional Sports Park, and Cape Fear Regional Soccer Park. Two Bridges Recreational Area, located in Danville, Indiana, continually makes additions to their complex such as adding soccer fields and a softball field a few years ago. Fresno Park and Cape Fear, located in North Carolina, pride themselves on the large amount of soccer fields they have, as well as playgrounds and hiking trails. These parks have gained popularity and are often focal points for soccer tournaments.

More recently, West Covina is transforming a highly toxic landfill. The park is a 315 acre landfill turned sports arena which contains 18- hole championship golf course, 6 baseball fields, and a retail center containing Target, Home Depot, as well as other specialty shops and restaurants. The park opened in 2003 and has generated great interest and revenue.

The main obstacle for success in these transformations is the containment of methane gas. Decaying trash produces methane gas, which can be hazardous to human health. All of the parks mentioned have used a similar EPA approved technique (pdf) to eliminate the methane gas.

The EPA fact sheet referenced above is specific to the process used to transform the old Fresno landfill into the Fresno Regional Sports Park.  It clearly delineates the process for laypeople. The first (bottom) layer consists of the waste accumulated in the area. The trash is combined with soil to reduce impacts on the rest of the layers and to create a smooth surface. The second layer is the geomembrane layer. This layer willprevent surface water from getting into the first layer and control the methane gas movement. The geomembrane layer is made of flexible membrane which resists punctures and has long-term durability. The third layer in the diagram is called the cover soil, but it can also be called the drainage and filtration layer. This layer intercepts water from the surface and removes the excess water received. By removing the excess water, the layer helps prevent the movement of particles that may lead to clogging the system. During rainy seasons, the filtration layer plays a large part in keeping the ground from flooding. The final and top layer of the system is called the vegetative layer. Grass is the primary vegetation used for this layer. A landfill gas piping system is placed at a minimum of one foot below the top soil of vegetation. The soccer fields are on this top soil.

Apart from the landfill cover system, Fresno also created a groundwater treatment system. This system consists of two air stripper units and extraction wells. The wells will control water flow by pumping contaminated groundwater collected from the filtration layer. The groundwater is sent through a high turbulent jet of air which removes harmful organic materials. The treated water is sent through agricultural water pipelines to discharge in a storm water detention basin, where the water will evaporate or infiltrate into the ground.

There are many alterations to this system in other parks. The idea of a landfill cover system is consistent throughout. All of the plans that parks go through are compliant to EPA standards. In fact, the process is funded through a brownfields program created by the EPA.

A “brownfield” is property which contains hazardous substances or has potential to contain pollutants. Through the Brownfield Program, the EPA assists cities to clean up their area safely and reuse the brownfield. According to the EPA website, this project has made close to 12 million acres and over 380,000 sites protective for people. EPA provides a Brownfields Cleanup Grant which gives direct funding for cleanup activities at certain properties with planned recreational or nonprofit uses. The Fresno Regional Sports Park is just one example of this process.