The European Union will vote in the next few months the on the ban on the sale of intentionally added microplastics; this will be a huge challenge for the synthetic turf industry. There is consensus that without polymeric infill, with current solutions, a shock pad must be used. The ProGame team is aware and willing to support our current and future partners to develop systems meeting the strict demands of the Sport Governing bodies and at the same time to offer solutions that further improve the environmental position of the complete systems. We can offer 50% recycled content or BIO-based solutions with the same performance as the current ProGame shock pads range. The softness of our material, combined with the wide range of thicknesses, is the perfect solution when using non-infill or sand-filled systems, or natural infill.
“The main reason for recommending a ban is that infill is the most significant contributor in terms of use of microplastics in products as well as the largest source of environmental emissions of intentionally-present synthetic polymer microparticles at European level.
The EC noted ECHA expressed concerns about the effectiveness of risk management measures, in particular in relation to existing sport surfaces and smaller size particles.
The EC also noted the RAC committee of ECHA also stated that it does not endorse the referred limit of 7g/m2/year as any sort of acceptable threshold, as this on its own still implies substantial releases to the environment on a continued basis.” (European Commission)
We are working hard at the moment to make our sustainability strategy available to a wide audience online. We are already looking forward to presenting more in the coming weeks.
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