Nangang District’s Shanzhuku Sanitary Landfill is set to reopen in August as Shanshuilu Ecological Park, the Taipei City Government said April 17.
“This project is a model for landfill cleanup, sustainable development and the provision of green land for recreational purposes,” Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin said during a tour of the site.
According to the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, 16.14 hectares of the former landfill, which was closed at the end of 2010, have been transformed into green land with the planting of 1,723 trees, including cherry blossoms, tung blossoms, Taiwan golden rain trees and Formosan gum.
Birds such as black-browed barbets, common kingfishers, white wagtails and egrets have already been attracted to the park, as well as protected species including crested serpent eagles, Formosan blue magpies and collared Scops owls. In addition, common moorhens have taken up residence in a former oxidation ditch converted to marshland.
Many of the park’s facilities are rehabilitated landfill equipment or built with recycled waste products. A vehicle washdown bay has been turned into a cafe, the former recycling plant has become a visitors center, discarded power poles support a viewing platform and 300,000 soda and beer cans have been used to make display walls.
The new park, costing more than NT$200 million (US$6.7 million), will join the city’s Fudekeng Ecological Park and another scheduled to open later this year on the former site of the Neihu District landfill. (THN)
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