What do the following cities have in common?
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Adelaide, Australia
- Staten Island, New York
- Pulau Semakau, Singapore
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Tel Aviv, Israel
- West Roxbury, Massachusetts
- Berkeley, California
- Lam Tin, Hong Kong
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
You probably couldn’t guess — after all, it’s challenging to see how Lam Tin, Hong Kong could be related to West Roxbury, Massachusetts.
But they do have an interesting common link, and one that other cities should emulate. Here it is: each city is home to a beautiful expanse of natural space that’s open to the public for recreational activities.
That might not sound very meaningful. Isn’t it just a way of saying “park,” after all? And don’t nearly all cities have parks? Well, yes, and yes. But these parks are all extra-special for the same striking reason: every one of them used to be a giant pile of garbage.
Yes, each site has undergone quite a transformation — these days you’d be hard-pressed to find even a single piece of litter on them. And they’re all embodied representations of something important: a community-led effort to turn unsightly waste into usable public space — the most wonderful kind of recycling that you’ll ever see.
In Colorado Springs’ Red Rock Canyon Open Space, you can hike, climb, and picnic against one of nature’s most unique backdrops. Freshkills Park in Staten Island is now one of New York City’s largest parks — home not just to sports, recreation, and educational facilities, but also a giant solar array that can power up to 2,000 local homes.
Mount Trashmore Park in Virginia Beach has trails, playgrounds, lakes — and a massive skate park that attracts even elite professional skateboarders. César Chávez Park used to be one of the biggest landfills in the Bay area, and is now a de facto nature preserve that hosts an annual kite-flying competition.
Singapore’s Pulau Semakau still partially operates as a landfill, but also serves as a wildlife protection area for species that include rare corals, mangroves, and other indigenous plant life. Once you could only find trash in Adelaide’s Cleland Conservation Park, but now it’s not uncommon for visitors on hikes to spot koalas munching away on a daytime snack of eucalyptus.
Encouragingly, landfill conversions are a worldwide trend. In addition to being an elegant way to manage waste, they’re a testament to how recycling can take the form of lovely parks and public access areas to wildlife habitats and energy projects. The 10 cities listed here aren’t alone, either — dozens of other waste sites around the world have undergone similar conversions, and the U.S. already has an estimated 4,000–5,000 acres of public parks built on landfills.
For taxpayers, park directors, and government officials, capped landfills can be a fantastic starting point for new projects, particularly since they’re available at such a low price. There are, of course, challenges to repurposing landfills, but with proper oversight, the process can exemplify recycling at its very best: taking what was once used and reformatting it in an even more inspired way.
