Published: January 14th pm31 5:20pm EthEST
Environmental sustainability where you wouldn't expect it.
Most people wouldn’t think of environmental sustainability while watching a football or soccer game. Then again, most people don’t think about the components of the synthetic turf that is used on so many fields today, or the carpet backing of that turf and how it affects the environment. But consider this- all those football, soccer and tennis fields, all those golf courses and indoor practice arenas that have artificial turf create a significant impact on the environment- and whether that impact is good or bad depends largely on how the backing of that carpet is created and installed. Not the most glamorous example for this topic, but one that affects a lot more than is immediately apparent.
The options for sustainable carpet backing are improving with new technology that has been specifically designed with the environment in mind. As the synthetic turf industry works to create more eco-friendly carpet backing and turf backing options, they’re perfecting a combination of materials and installation techniques that will create athletic fields that use no pesticides and require no mowing or watering. Utilizing almost no resources, these field can last for years and have minimal effect on the environment around them. When it’s time to replace the turf, they’ve worked to make sure that disposal is also as eco-friendly as possible, so that less waste ends up in a landfill.
Recent advances in the technologies of sustainable turf backing and adhesives used for installation have lightened to footprint of these products enormously, and made it possible for eco-friendly turf backing to be a common option for those seeking to have an artificial field or surface. When you stop to consider how many places now used some form of synthetic turf or carpet, these eco-friendly carpet backings are a crucial step towards responsible stewardship of our environment in new and extensive ways.