Repurposing urban construction waste to create diverse wildflower meadows

为了美观和生物多样性的好处，野花草地在欧洲城市被广泛种植。在澳大利亚东南部，它们是极度濒危的草地林地令人惊叹但罕见的特征，因为大多数本土野花无法应对与农业相关的密集放牧和高土壤养分。该项目旨在开发一种新的工艺，通过重新利用来自建筑业的低营养矿物废物，在城市公园和退化的草地林地中建立本地野花草地。它将带来多种好处，包括恢复城市生物多样性，提高人们的心理健康，开发回收建筑垃圾的新市场，以及减少进入垃圾填埋场的垃圾量。

Wildflower meadows have been planted extensively in European cities for aesthetic and biodiversity benefits. In SE Australia, they are stunning, but rare, features of critically endangered grassy woodlands because most native wildflowers cannot cope with intense grazing and high soil nutrients associated with agriculture. This project aims to develop a novel process for establishing native wildflower meadows in urban parks and degraded grassy woodlands by repurposing low nutrient mineral waste from the construction industry. It will have multiple benefits including restoring urban biodiversity, increasing people's mental well-being, developing new markets for recycled construction waste and reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.