The old saying goes: “I brought you into this world and I can take you out.” In the business world this philosophy is known as “green reverse logistics”- the responsibility a company or a manufacturer has to dispose of their product in a safe manner.

One would think that artificial turf, the surface of elementary school playing fields to professional sports stadiums around the world, would last forever but like the surface it is replacing (grass) it has a threshold.  

US Greentech is in the artificial turf business and Turf Reclamation Services (TRS), their sister company, is responsible for recycling worn-out turf. Both companies are headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

According to a statement from TRS there is an estimated 31,000 fields in the United States alone that will need to be replaced in the next 25 years and each field has with 500,000 pounds or more of material that needs to be kept out of landfills. This is a “paralyzing dilemma” so TRS “developed a unique solution for artificial turf removal and recycling that has the entire industry breathing easier.”

First, an attachment called the Viper™ is placed on a self-propelled machine called the Wrangler™ ( it looks like Wall-E on steroids) to slice the turf into 45" ribbons with two diamond-tipped blades. Then the SideWinder™ attachment rolls the ribbons of turf for easy loading on to a truck. This method removes the artificial surface without disturbing the base so a new surface can be laid down easily.
After the slicing and rolling the customer with the help of TRS will decide what to do with  the pieces of their former field. The turf can be recycled into synthetic turf infill or repurposed into something else.

There is a third and optional step performed by an entirely different machine called the Rattlesnake™  to remove the 95% of the infill. The infill is put into “Super Sacks” on the back of the machine, like a lawnmower, to be reused, cleaned or recycled easily. The rubber and sand infill can be reused onsite for elsewhere on another project.

Their eco-friendly Envirofill is made from a fracking byproduct known as “frac” sand. This recycling of sand is either good or bad depending on how you feel about the fracking process.

Are you breathing easier know that you know artificial turf can be recycled and reused? If you’re not, it’s probably just allergies because you are standing on a field of grass instead of snazzy recycled turf.