Embracing the outdoors, leaving city life behind!
In a bid to make Detmold more livable, greener, and environmentally friendly, the city portal has launched an innovative initiative called "GroundAir". This competition encourages municipalities, including Detmold, to reduce soil pollution, protect the urban climate, expand biodiversity, and strengthen flood protection.
The "GroundAir" initiative, which is part of the city portal's broader efforts, originated from successful practices in the Netherlands. The competition aims to transform sealed areas, such as courtyards and driveways, into green living spaces, thereby improving the environment and quality of life.
Citizens can contribute to this initiative by unsealing their areas and converting gravel gardens into green spaces. Prior arrangement is essential due to the city's lack of larger storage areas for this purpose. Collected stones from unsealed areas can be disposed of as uncontaminated construction waste at the Recycling Center Hellsiek on the Hellsiek landfill and Recycling Center Maibolte at the Lemgo Composting Facility.
The city portal's Urban Planning team leader, Andreas Hoffmann, explains the processing and use of these stones. They are then processed and used in construction measures for flood protection. In individual cases, stones or gravel can be picked up after consultation with Bernd Kruse from the city portal's Urban Planning team.
The "GroundAir" competition offers cash prizes and vouchers for a garden center of the winner's choice. To participate, citizens are required to upload before-and-after photos of their transformed spaces to bodenluft.net.
The Mayor of Detmold, Frank Hilker, has stated that the city portal relies on the support of citizens for this initiative. Besides Detmold, the cities participating in the "GroundAir" competition by Provinzial Insurance to improve the environment and quality of life include Münster, Recklinghausen, Osnabrück, and Paderborn.
The improvement of the urban climate is one of the key benefits of unsealing areas. It helps lower temperatures and provide a more pleasant climate, especially on hot days. Unsealing areas also promotes biodiversity by offering habitat for plants, birds, and other animals, increasing the variety of species in the city. Moreover, unsealing areas allows better infiltration of rainwater, reducing flooding and promoting groundwater recharge.
For more information about drop-off points, including opening hours, directions, and accepted waste fractions, visit the Lippe Waste Management Association's website at abfall-lippe.de/abgabestellen.
Join the "GroundAir" initiative and help make Detmold a greener and more beautiful city!
