| Olympic Park soil is cleaned |
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| Friday, 25 April 2008 | |
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Billions of naturally occurring micro-organisms are helping clean nearly 50,000 tonnes of soil on the site of the Olympic Park so that it can be reused to create the largest new urban park in Europe for 150 years. The micro-organisms in the soil on the parts of the Olympic Park that has suffered decades of contamination have adapted to naturally consume petroleum hydrocarbons such as petrol and diesel. Warm air, nutrients and water vapour are being pumped through soil in especially constructed bioremediation beds to massively increase the numbers of harmless micro-organisms and speed up this natural 'composting' process. After a few weeks the soil is clean and ready for reuse creating the platform for the construction of the venues and parklands for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and legacy without waste materials being taken off site to landfill. David Higgins, chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) said: “Cleaning up of the Olympic Park is incredibly challenging. We are on track to clean and clear most of the site by Beijing 2008 and meet our sustainability commitments. By utilising the latest technology we are transforming land contaminated by decades of industrial use and neglect into an area fit for world class sporting venues, a new urban park and the development of new communities.”       |
