Calls to shut down the site mounted in the wake of the growing public awareness of environmental pollution, underground water contamination and the spread of noxious gases.

Thousands of sea gulls and other birds attracted by the decomposing garbage created a hazard for commercial airliners taking off and landing at nearby Ben Gurion Airport.

[9][10] Since Hiriya is not under the jurisdiction of any municipality, the site is managed by the Dan Region Association of Towns Sanitation and Solid Waste Disposal board.

[11] In 2004, an international competition was held calling for ideas on how to rehabilitate the mountain of garbage, turn it into a positive landmark and keep it from collapsing into the Ayalon riverbed.

[12] Plans were subsequently drawn up to remediate the site and use the mountain and surrounding land as the centerpiece of Ariel Sharon Park .

[13] A 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) area was demarcated for the park during the term of the then Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who was an avid supporter of the project.

The project received the full backing of Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan,[7] and was planned by German landscape architect and urban planner Peter Latz.