is a zero waste turf project possible?

follow along on our journey to find out

Join Adam Coleman, VP of Marketing & Innovation for The Motz Group as he walks you through the journey of the Zero Waste turf replacement project. This is taking place at Mariemont High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. The reason this field was chosen was due to the school's original selections of sustainable components: 

Each week, The Motz Group will share a project update on this webpage and on our social media platforms. The latest updates will be at the top of the entries so if you just joined us in the middle of the project, we recommend scrolling all the way to the bottom to follow this project's story from the beginning. 


WEEK EIGHT - FINAL UPDATE

zero waste turf project - week EIGHT

Adam Coleman returns to wrap up our #ZeroWasteWarrior project. The final touches of Envirofill turf infill are being installed and leveled out and the remaining leftover materials are being distributed to the proper recycling channels. A few items proved to be challenging to find homes for which resulted in less than one dumpster worth of waste. Follow along in this week's photo gallery to learn more details on those items.

  • Envirofill originally used in the first field was reinstalled 
  • Less than one dumpster was needed over the course of the project
  • Typically this job would take 10-20 dumpsters of waste to the landfill.

WEEK EIGHT VIDEO UPDATE

WEEK EIGHT PHOTO GALLERY


WEEK SEVEN UPDATE

zero waste turf project - week SEVEN

Joe Motz, Founder and CEO of The Motz Group visits the site of our Zero Waste project at Mariemont High School in Cincinnati to check out the progress and provide us with an update

  • New turf has been installed and the crew is focusing on installing the logos and other cut-ins.
  • Excess material separation has been a focus this week to prepare for recycling 
  • Leftover turf scraps will be used to make new nailer-board material

WEEK SEVEN VIDEO UPDATE

WEEK SEVEN PHOTO GALLERY


WEEK SIX UPDATE

zero waste turf project - week SIX

Adam Coleman returns with Peter Miller from BestPlus Lumber visiting the Mariemont High School project. This week, the installation crew worked on a system to easily separate waste stream materials as they built the project. Typically these materials would go straight to a dumpster.

  • New turf is being installed this week
  • Turf packaging and excess materials are being collected to be recycled
  • BestPlus Lumber will collect the leftover turf material to up-cycle into plastic lumber

WEEK SIX VIDEO UPDATE

WEEK SIX PHOTO GALLERY


WEEK FIVE UPDATE

zero waste turf project - week FIVE

Adam Coleman returns to Mariemont High School's turf replacement project to check in on week five progress. 

  • The original shock pad was re-installed
  • The installation team is staging the new rolls of turf
  • Turf installation will begin this week 

WEEK FIVE VIDEO UPDATE

WEEK FIVE PHOTO GALLERY


WEEKS THREE AND FOUR UPDATE

zero waste turf project - weeks three and four

Sarah Shewmaker, The Motz Group's Brand Manager, shares with us the update of week three and four of our Zero Waste Turf Project at Mariemont High School. During the third week, the focus was on the base. Once an old field is removed, the work needed on the base can vary. At Mariemont High School, it was in good shape so the base sub contractor wrapped up early with ensuring the base was ready to lay the re-used pad and new turf down. Week four, The Motz Group team finished prepping the field and started re-installing the pad.

  • Week three was all about prepping the base for the new field
  • The pad and infill are still on site waiting to be re-used
  • Towards the end of week four, the pad will start to be re-installed

WEEKS THREE AND FOUR VIDEO UPDATE

WEEK THREE AND FOUR PHOTO GALLERY


WEEK TWO UPDATE

zero waste turf project - week TWO

Adam returns to show you the progress from week one to week two. This week you can see the Envirofill removal has been complete, the turf has been removed and the pad has been removed leaving the field down to its gravel layer. Both the Envirofill and pad will remain on site to be reused in the new field.

  • Field is down to gravel layer
  • All turf has been pulled off, rolled up and most has been put on trucks to head to Georgia
  • All the rubber pad is rolled up, labeled and organized and waiting to be re-used for the third lifecycle.
  • Some of the supersacks of the Envirofill turf infill are at the end of the field waiting to be reused.

 

WEEK TWO VIDEO UPDATE

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE TURF?

REMOVING THE PAD

EXCESS INFILL LEFTOVER

WEEK TWO PHOTO GALLERY


WEEK ONE UPDATE

zero waste turf project - week one

Usually on a turf field replacement, the turf is sliced up into 45" wide strips and rolled up with the infill still in the turf profile. For this special zero waste project, it was important that the infill is separated from the turf so it could be re-used for the new field. The crew started by removing the Envirofill from the turf. Envirofill has a 16-year warranty and can be reused for multiple turf life-cycles. It is also installed without any other infill materials, unlike most all other infills which allows for easier extraction and cleaner reuse. Once the Envirofill was removed, the next step was to slice the turf into the same 45" strips. The Motz Group uses machinery by Turf Reclamation Solutions to do the removal of infill and turf efficiently. 

 

  • Removed the Envirofill and placed in supersacks where it will stay onsite until it is time to reuse and install in the new turf
  • Cut the turf into 45" strips, rolled each panel up and placed on trucks to be shipped to Georgia
  • The turf will then be ground up to be recycled to make new pad for turf fields

WEEK ONE VIDEO UPDATE

CLOSE UP: TURF ROLLS

WEEK ONE PHOTO GALLERY

What is zero waste?

According to the EPA, it is "the conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.”