Recycling Trash Into Our Treasure

Recycling Trash Into Our Treasure. . Today, a grassland mound rises above the nature park, providing a natural setting for people to enjoy. But this has not always been a pretty sight., In 1960, the City bought this property, a former gravel pit, for the city landfill. For the first 10 years, most trash was burned, and the ash and non-burnable garbage was buried. A mound began to take shape in 1971, when the City started disposing of the trash above ground, as a landfill. Trash was trucked to this site, compacted, and covered daily with a layer of gravel mined from the adjacent pits., For over 20 years, the trash grew higher and gravel pits grew larger and deeper. The landfill was closed in 1993, and was sealed with a cap of clay the following year., After topsoil was stripped away, a dragline mined gravel, digging pits eight to fifteen feet deep. These pits became the Park's chain of ponds., This site operated as the Brookings city landfill until the early 1990s.