Hannover landfill

View of the landfill in Altwarmbüchener Moor

The Hannover landfill is one of three waste disposal sites operated by the Hanover Region Waste Management Association (Aha) . It is located in the Hanover district of Lahe and was created in 1937 by the city of Hanover as the Altwarmbüchener Moor central landfill . The north mountain , which was heaped up until 1982 , is popularly known as Monte Müllo . With a height of 121 m above sea level. NN , the mountain in front of the natural Kronsberg is 118 m high, the highest elevation in the urban area, although this height is not secured due to the natural subsidence of a landfill.

history

Dump of garbage at the beginning of its development with light rail

Nordberg , before that earlier garbage compaction vehicles from the landfill mountain , which has been closed since 1982

View from the mountain top with summit signs around 2005

The central landfill was created in 1937 near the village of Lahe, northeast of Hanover. It replaced three landfills in the city of Hanover: On Constantinstrasse in the List , on the Breiten Wiese between Kleefeld and Misburg and in the Steintormasch on the old Leine near the Great Garden . The landfill is located in the Altwarmbüchener Moor , an upland moor of around 15 km², which at that time was viewed as economically unusable wasteland. The excavated soil was deposited there when the Mittelland Canal was built in 1913-23. The first central garbage dump in Hanover was built on this firm, but by no means secure, surface.

Since the wet moor was not accessible to heavy garbage trucks, a garbage transfer station was set up on the edge of the landfill. After being dumped from the garbage trucks, the garbage was driven onto the resulting pile of garbage on a field train. Later paved roads were built so that garbage trucks could drive up the mountain. In the 1960s, the mountain grew 30 m further into the moor every year. At that time, burning gas clouds and smoldering fires were the order of the day and there was once an explosion from landfill gases.

From 1972 onwards, the landfill was no longer simply dumped, but an orderly landfill operation was carried out. The rubbish was built in layers and the sides were provided with earth walls for later recultivation. After 45 years of garbage disposal, the north mountain was closed and greened in 1982. The north mountain lies at 58 m above sea level. NN and is around 65 m high. On the landfill site there has been a second, lower mountain of rubbish with a height of 110 m since 1982, formed by the southern body, the subsurface of which is much better secured according to modern technical standards than the old rubbish mountain from 1937. The southern summit is about half a kilometer south of the northern summit. The southern body merges into the small eastern body towards the northeast . The north mountain has been recultivated in three construction phases since 2011. The completion is to take place by 2017, so that water, soil and air in the area of the old body are then adequately protected.

Since June 1, 2005, the Lahe landfill has only been storing material that contains almost no organic components. The reason for this is the Landfill Ordinance of May 14, 1993, which requires that untreated waste may no longer be landfilled. Since then, the waste from the Hanover region has been mechanically pretreated, the coarse portion has a higher calorific value and is incinerated , the fine portion is biologically treated and stored at the Wunstorf - Kolenfeld landfill .

In 2019, Aha became aware of plans to build the Lithuanian pavilion for Expo 2000 on the mountain in order to support Hanover's application as cultural capital in 2025. The drugstore entrepreneur Dirk Roßmann wants to contribute as a sponsor .

Sightseeing

A visit to the waste treatment center in Lahe is regularly possible on Discovery Day of the Hanover region . On this day, visitors are offered a supporting program with a tour and ascent of the mountain, performances by alphorn players and cable car rides. On the mountain top there is a summit cross and signs to other mountain peaks. A “Schöne Aussicht” café will be set up on the day of the action. On the day of discovery, several thousand visitors visit the landfill site.

literature

Franziska Saniter, Heike Köhn: Clean Times - A journey through time in ten stages through 100 years of municipal waste collection and city cleaning in Hanover , Hanover 2001