Turf from recycled synthetic turf
Edel Grass has launched a synthetic turf carpet whose fibres have partly been made from recycled synthetic turf.
The new product called Edel Athmos, was introduced at the FSB trade fair in Cologne, following a successful test on the Lisport XL. 50% of the fibre was produced from a polymer from reclaimed synthetic turf.
Edel Grass sourced the raw material from end-of-life turf that was recycled by Re-Match. The recycler from Denmark is hailed for the high level of purity of its final products, being polyethylene from the yarn, polypropylene from the backing, performance infill SBR, TPE, EPDM or cork, as well as the sand that is used for stabilizing the carpet.
Circular Turf Yarn Development Project
Re-Match’s Circular Turf Yarn Development Project is funded by the Danish Government under ”Innobooster” and EU Horizon 2020. It is a combination and integration of two innovative patented technologies: CreaSolv and Re-Match. Since 2017, the company has had an exclusive partnership with the German-based Fraunhofer Institute.
According to a presentation Re-Match delivered in 2019, “The purification process does not damage the PE and does not downgrade the turf yarn. Purified PE from end-of-life turf is almost 100% comparable to virgin PE performance, while the circular end-of-life turf yarn is almost 100% comparable to the yarn originally used.”
At the time, Re-Match founder Dennis Andersen claimed that “Turf made of the circular end-of-life yarn is almost 100% comparable to original turf.”
Not entirely new
The Edel Grass is unique as it is the first synthetic turf for sports product that uses a significant component of recycled turf. This is in accordance with the ambitions set by the European Union to re-introduce at least 35% raw materials from recycled products by 2030. However, synthetic turf yarn that contains a recycled component is not entirely new. FieldTurf Tarkett already has a product that has a core that has been produced from recycled plastic. FieldTurf Tarkett also has a product that is entirely made of oil that was derived through pyrolysis, a process where post-consumer plastic is converted to a raw material for new plastic products.
Having that said, Edel Grass and Re-Match have now shown that it is possible to produce high-end synthetic turf (for sports) from end-of-life turf.
Sportsfields.info will soon publish a more in-depth article on the trend of dual-fibres that contain different (reclaimed) raw materials.
