RECULTIVATION OF MINING WASTE DUMPS IN THE RUHR AREA, GERMANY

In 1993, Ruhrkohle AG produced 41,9 million tons of coal and 19,1 mill ion m(3) of mining waste. Of this, 0,7 million m(3) were used undergro und as stowing material, 4,7 million m(3) was used commercially, while the remaining 13,7 million m(3) required dumping. Efforts related to the use and disposal of the material up to now dumped are concentratin g on applying technical methods to reduce the production of waste unde rground, on opening up new markets of this material, on utilization of mining waste as a building material, and on low-environmental-impact dumping. Since the late 1970ies, the mining waste heaps in the Ruhr mi ning region have been conceived and designed as ''landscape structures '', i.e., they are integrated into the landscape by means of careful p lanning and design, and are immediately planted with vegetation.