In the Dutch city of Utrecht, bus shelters are going green with more than 300 stops adding sedum roofs. In addition, the shelters include sustainable bamboo benches and structure made from recycled concrete.
The green roofs have been realized with MobiRoof cassettes, with each cassette containing 6-8 types of sedum. Drought resistant and easy to maintain, these succulent plants filter air, capture fine dust, improve biodiversity and generally improve the quality of the surrounding city air. The cassettes also collect rainwater and provide cooling at high temperatures.
The bus shelters were commissioned by ClearChannel - one of the largest outdoor advertising companies in the world – and produced by Epsilon. Maurice Prijs, project manager for the greening of bus shelters adds, ‘The company that installs the green bus booths also drives electric buses. The total project is designed for sustainability.’
A Green City:
The municipality of Utrecht indicates that it wants to keep greenery in the city accessible to everyone and improve the quality of green infrastructure overall.
Their initiative has certainly not gone unnoticed with worldwide media such as the Guardian the Independent picking up on the project. The UK’s Independent writes, “Holland covers hundreds or bus stops with plants as a gift to honeybees”.
