Rehabilitation of Abandoned Quarries

In Flanders, site rehabilitation and restoration is ensured in the Flemish Parliament Act on Surface Minerals through the granting of extraction permits and financial guarantees to ensure correct rehabilitation, and the development of a remediation or restoration plan.

If the rehabilitation purpose is use as agricultural land, the restoration process is advised by a steering committee. This committee is at least composed of the mineral resources department, the agricultural department and the Pedological Survey of Belgium. This steering committee develops a restoration strategy which leads to a detailed design plan for each site.

In other cases, nature will be the final rehabilitation destination. Several projects have been realised which resulted in special micro-ecosystems which had a very positive impact on the value of local nature.

In some cases the final rehabilitation will be recreation. Several of these projects resulted in provincial recreational domains which are open to the public. These domains offer different types of recreational possibilities, such as open air swimming pools, sport facilities, the organisation of festivals, etc.