Peaks on the Roof of Drenthe

Waste management company Attero started composting waste from the Randstad region back in 1928 in Wijster. The current, state-of-the-art plant is located next to the landfill, which has been partially made suitable for recreational purposes. As a preliminary highlight, the Roof of Drenthe will host the European Cycling Championships from September 22 to 24.

Hans Boer, manager Minerals at Attero, is closely involved in the project: "Around 2016/2017, we already received a request from Henk Brink, deputy of the province of Drenthe, to open the landfill for cyclists. At that time, the covered section had been open for pedestrians for many years and for cyclists once a year. Brink wanted to go one step further for the latter target group. Not least because he has bicycles in his portfolio."

Province

Attero was not immediately in favor of the idea. Hans: "It is still a licensed site and that means that we as a company are and remain responsible if accidents occur. Of course we did sit down with the province to see if we could come to a solution in this area. And that resulted in an agreement whereby the right of superficies of the bike lanes passed to the province. In other words, they have now become provincial bike paths."

The next question arose as to whether the whole thing could not be made even more beautiful. Thus arose the idea of the Roof of Drenthe, an 800-meter-long embankment. Bottom ash was used to raise the landfill from 48 to 63 meters. This made it possible to create an even more beautiful bike trail and hiking area. It is the highest point in the province of Drenthe with a beautiful, expansive view. Hans: "The total project has a first and second phase. The first is already open to the public and events. A stage of the Dutch Cycling Championships has already been run on it three times. During the European Championships, a climb over 460 meters with a gradient of 16.4% will be commissioned."

Open to the public

The situation at the site is special, in that part of the dump is still in use. Hans: "It now looks like landfilling will still be necessary in the Netherlands until 2050. Household waste has not been allowed to be dumped for years. It is now mainly non-recyclable streams, residues from recycling, incineration, composting, soil remediation and also materials such as asbestos. But think also of non-flammable waste and highly contaminated soil. Waste streams whose recycling is currently not economically feasible."

In addition to the active section of the dump, another section is already open to the public. This section has been covered according to applicable laws and regulations. For this purpose, Attero has engaged Boskalis Netherlands as the main contractor, which then subcontracts parts of the work to reputable and specialized subcontractors.

"We as Attero do not, of course, lean back on this project. It starts with setting up the work site, getting everything ready and getting the power supply ready. The soil applied for the cover had already been taken and approved at the start of the project, the soil flows were already ready. The project had to be completed in a short time, from May 1 to about September 1. Then as a client you have to make sure that all the contractors involved can carry out their work as quickly and efficiently as possible," Hans Boer concludes.