Garbage hill in Virginia Beach became America's first landfill park

In Virginia Beach, one of the city's most recognisable parks began with something most communities would rather hide: a mountain of garbage. According to the City of Virginia Beach, a 640,000-ton pile of garbage was converted into a 60-foot-high hill that became Mount Trashmore Park. What had once been a landfill was transformed into a 165-acre public space with lakes, trails, playgrounds and recreational facilities. The City of Virginia Beach describes Mount Trashmore as the nation's first landfill park. The unusual project began in the early 1970s and demonstrated how land associated with waste could be given an entirely different purpose.