True Recycling
The Re-Match process is the first and only of its kind to recycle 99% of the synthetic turf system on an industrial scale.
A typical synthetic turf pitch
The average life of a pitch is 10 years, based on normal quality, proper installation, reasonable maintenance, exposure to sunlight and normal usage over its lifetime. It covers 7,000m2 and weighs 220-240 tons, distributed over:
- 60% sand
- 30% rubber granulate
- 5% backing, and
- 5% turf fibres
Bringing it back
It is the vision of Re-Match to ensure full circularity of all the recycled end products from its recycling process.
While the clean and separated sand and rubber granulate can easily go back into new synthetic turf pitches as infill, turning the recycled plastic fibre into yarn, which could be used in the production of new synthetic turf is a more challenging task.
To achieve this, Re-Match has established the Circular Turf Yarn Development Project, co-funded by the Danish government and EU’s Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation program. The development is made in exclusivity with the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany. By applying new chemical techniques, the project has demonstrated that new yarn be made from recycled plastic fibre and of equivalent quality and strength to virgin turf yarn.
To prove this in real life, a number of pilot fields are being planned – among others in Berlin.
