shovel

Most people on a job site have legal status, Harris said, “but if shovels never hit the ground, the costs are being borne by everybody, and it’s slowing the rebuilding of L.A.”

"Half an hour had gone and there was no call back from them, so that's when I phoned friends and we started getting in and shovelling them all down to the river."

But before you can get a shovel into the ground, everything changes.

Armed with a shovel and a pair of gloves, he began searching through rotting grass clippings and food scraps on 15 August for traces of the movie theatre popcorn.

The Eland project took about two years to complete once the first shovel was in the ground, compared with nuclear or natural gas projects that can take several years longer, he said.