A new subdivision north of Christchurch is swapping truckloads of soil for red zone rubble.
The soil will be used to build a green space in the central city, and the recycled rubble will be used as base material for the roads in the new development.
It will take 100 trucks and thousands of cubic metres of soil to make one pocket of the Garden City green again.
“The aim is to illustrate to our community that we are going for a green city, rebuilding a garden, and this is a journey to a greener, more amenable city,” Baden Ewart, CERA general manager of operations says.
It's a trade-off with Prestons' new subdivision just north of Christchurch, and chairman David Schwartfeger is pleased about the arrangement.
“We get to use some of the excess topsoil we've got and help CERA green the city up,” he says. “[We’ll] try and utilise some of the city that is covered in gravel at the moment.”
Once the trucks have offloaded, they return to the subdivision with recycled red zone rubble. In a classic win-win, this will then be used to build the roads of the 200 hectare development.
“Rather than us taking some concrete waste and sticking it in a hole somewhere or out at reclamation, they can use it on their site,” Mr Ewart says. “And they've got material that they would have to dump at a landfill.”
About 20 trucks an hour are transporting soil out of the subdivision. It's expected to take more than a week to dump all of it at the site. Once levelled, it will be transformed into a flower garden.
CERA operations manager Tim Pow thinks the idea could work across the city.
“It would be great if it was implemented across Christchurch. It stops the dust. It looks good. It looks much better than crushed concrete on the ground and it's easy to maintain.”
CERA will look after the green site until the end of March, and then it will be handed over to the landowners.
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