New family members soon to be launched

With the LOKI and THOR systems, a new set of tools for reuse and repurposing of artificial soccer turfs was introduced to the industry. With its mobility, high production capacity and price level at a fraction of the price of existing fixed plants, it has made processing available to all that wants to deliver a sustainable and affordable national or local service. The LOKI will remove the infill from the turf and separate the sand from the performance infill into clean, dry raw material, ready for reuse and repurposing. Sand and performance infill, check!

The challenge; keeping the turf as high up in the waste hierarchy as possible

The task of bringing the clean empty turf into a state where it can be reused, repurposed, or recycled (mechanically or chemically) requires a bit more smartness. Our common goal is to keep the turf as high up in the waste hierarchy as possible, but to do so we need to shape, shave, or mechanically process the turf for it to be ready for a second (and third, and forth) time around.

There is a varying ability for the international plastic production industry to use syntetic turf for plastic production without a change or investment in their existing setup (and unfortunately, we humans often lean towards keeping everything at status quo). The syntetic turf (fiber + backing) consists of a mix of different polymers and additives, which for some production processes does not go well together, and the fractions must be separated before any further processing can take place. And, for the most favorable stream, to be able to reuse or repurpose the turf, either on new soccer fields, in landscaping, or installed in private homes, it needs to be cut in both width and length, tightly rolled up and made ready for transport. This is a difficult task using only hands and a wallpaper knife when some thousands of square meters are to be shipped out to awaiting customers.

Fortunately, something is cooking….

The All Sports Recycled network and partnership, consisting of companies facing these challenges on an everyday basis, are working to overcome these hurdles, both for ourselves and the common benefit of the industry. We have the last year developed on a set of tools that will assist in bringing the syntetic turf into the needed state for simpler reuse, repurposing, or recycling. Let us show you a glimps of what is coming;

The Shaper

The shaper table will enable the synthetic turf to be reused and reinstalled for sports, industry or home use. It will unroll, deep clean, cut (width and length) and roll up the turf, ready for another time around.

The Shaver

With the Shaver you will be able to separate the fiber from the backing. The machine unrolls, cuts and cleans the fiber (using water or air) before it is packed in big bags, while the roll of backing is rolled up for further processing.

Module 5 – The Turf Extruder

The module 5 is a specialized extruder, tailored for taking the clean rolls of turf, shred, agglemorate, extrude and pack the granules in big bags. The result is quality PE/PP granules ready for use in various plastic industry, either your own production or offered into the open market.

We are getting close….

With these tools we are getting close to a point where we can transform the turf into high value feed stock for the various turf and production industries. Of course, there are a lot of challenges remaining and still to overcome. As an industry we’ll need to combine our brains and brawns to keep us in the driver seat and to lead the way in exploiting the valuable resource that the EoL turfs actually are. In the months and years to come, the plastic production industry will be forced to increase the use of recycled plastic, either through new regulation or by economic incentives, and the classic waste feedstock will not be sufficient to meet this demand. Here the turf comes in….

Want to know more?

Get in touch with us to learn how you can use one of these tools, or these tools combined, to offer local or national profitable services and products, all while bringing the turf into a circular life cycle.

Or, get in touch with us if you want to explore the opportunity to be a part of a worldwide strategy and initiative to transform turf into feed stock for the mechanical and chemical plastic industry.