Representatives from Tencate Grass USA and Brock USA reiterated guarantees and recyclability of their synthetic turf products during the fourth Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) public hearing on the proposed high school athletic field project.
Recycling of the synthetic field has been a central issue at the public hearings, as members of environmental groups note the lack of an existing facility within the U.S., and the amount of energy it would take to send a turf field overseas to the facility in the Netherlands.
Mark Curran of Tencate Grass USA told commissioners the recycling facility in the Netherlands is fully operational, and has the capacity to recycle 1,000 athletic fields annually.
He stressed that the entire process is monitored and certified by a testing, inspection, and certification consulting firm, Kiwa Consulting.
The turf included in the proposal, Curran said, is made of components that can all be recycled and put back into the production stream.
“We can guarantee that any field installed at MVRHS can be recycled through our process,” he said.
Curran said that the facility in the U.S. is slated to be constructed within the next 24 months “somewhere down South.”
“That’s nearly a decade before your field will need recycling,” he said.
He also showed a video which illustrated how the recycling process happens, and how the renewed materials are repurposed.
Eric Hughes of Brock USA was also at the hearing to explain how the Brockfill infill included in the project proposal is sustainably harvested in Georgia. He said the trees used for Brockfill are a row crop, and whenever a tree is harvested, more trees are planted to replace it.
“Brockfill is a USDA-certified biobased product, and because it is a natural product, it can be used as a soil amendment in a new field, a natural grass field, or as a top dressing for landscaping,” Hughes said.
Dean Sidell, associate head of school at the Tower School in Marblehead, is a client of Huntress Associates (the designer chosen by MVRHS for the project).
Sidell said the products used in their synthetic turf field project helped them in their application to the conservation commission, because the products are recyclable. “We are situated right at the edge of a wetland area; that area is part of our education system. Finding products that could be fully recyclable from start to finish was really important to us,” Sidell said.
Commissioner Ben Robinson noted that Brock USA has a bronze-level certification, meaning they must reutilize only 35 percent of their product material.
“We have to be careful that there is always a desire to spin things in the best light. I think we have to be careful with greenwashing when we are talking about recycling,” Robinson said.
Commissioner Trip Barnes wondered whether any fields had been taken out of the U.S. and recycled in the Netherlands, noting the immense cost of shipping that amount of material from the Island.
“Currently, none,” Curran said. “That is why we developed this product in the first place. Somebody has to start, and we are happy to be the ones to do so.”
Some fields that have reached the end of their useful life have, according to Curran, been repurposed for batting cages, paintball fields, and tee boxes for golf courses.
But because a recycling facility doesn’t currently exist in the country, the rest “sit in big yards in different parts of the country, like Pennsylvania,” he said.
“So the bottom line is, there is a small percentage probably that gets repurposed, and right now in the United States, the rest of it just gets dumped somewhere,” commissioner Doug Sederholm said.
This was the fourth hearing on the project. The next hearing is scheduled for April 1, and commissioners expect to hold one more beyond that.
Cape Poge DCPC amendments approved
The amendments proposed by the town of Edgartown to the MVC’s decision to designate Cape Poge as a district of critical planning concern (DCPC) were approved by the commission.
In 2021, the town proposed amendments to the DCPC decision after a sharp rise in recreational boating and windsurfing was seen in Cape Poge during the summer of 2020.
The amendments concern the town’s ability to refine how permitted uses, such as boating, are regulated. The amendment focuses also on enforcement of regulations, and adds several enforcement entities to the advisory committee list, such as the Edgartown Police Department, the harbormaster, and the shellfish constable.
Any amendments to the DCPC decision must fall in line with the original guidelines, and must focus only on issues of wildlife or recreation management.
“Some of the stakeholders over there have reported hundreds of boats over there on a single day during a summer weekend,” Dan Doyle, special projects planner for the MVC, said.
Whereas the original advisory committee that was established never met, Doyle said, the town now proposes to create a group “that can actually swiftly implement some rules with conditions that are in the rules of the DCPC decision itself.”
The amendments must also receive a two-thirds vote at town meeting.
2 years from now, “somewhere down south” they will have a facility. Right —
I know a little about building. Find an appropriate site, buy the land, get the permits, build the first in the country facility, work out the bugs in the process, etc. etc.etc. Why not tell us one year ?
What’s the rush to get this giant piece of plastic down anyway ?
Why not wait a few years, and see if this recycling facility is really up and running ?
And the recycling issue is just one part of this whole insane proposal. Who pays to have it recycled ?
I am,however, impressed that it can be used as a “soil amendment”. If that’s true, why bother shipping it “somewhere down south” ? We can just rototil it in. No problem– all natural, sustainably manufactured ,usda certified.
It sounds like a good cook could get it into the lunch menu to boost the amount of fiber in the diet of the students. Just add a little snake oil, and it would be delicious to boot.
If I heard correctly the turf, infill and shock pad can all be recycled and are committed to be recycled. We were shown where and how they would be recycled until a second committed facility in the US is constructed. This is no longer a question or better yet the subject of misinformation campaigns by opposition groups. There was a question about energy to make and recycle the products. Please consider the energy used to manufacture fertilizer. Harvest seed for usage, run the grass care equipment over the life of the turf and the pollution that equipment makes while running. And how about pumping the million plus gallons of water needed to keep the grass green annually. It comes from out aquifer and runs right through the leaded soil. Please stop trying to make people believe there is zero energy cost to grass. That is just plain false. And to the backers of the FF on their website in agriculture business. Since you have a potential financial stake in the outcome of this MVC review it makes you inherently biased. I hope the MVC fully understands this bias and how it has contributed to the level of vitriol in the community.