Do you have concerns over the toxicity level of the recycled rubber crumb in your playing surface? We offer sports pitches rubber infill removal. If you are looking for more information on concerns raised, visit our article on Infill Health Risks.  In addition check out Prime Time’s coverage on the topic. Primetime – Do Artificial Pitches Increase Your Risk of Cancer?

Sportslawn Ireland offer removal of SBR rubber crumb infill from 3G playing surfaces, while these concerns have yet to be confirmed this can offer piece of mind to customers.  Furthermore we offer infill replacement so your pitch remains in good working order. There are number of alternative crumb options and these will maintain the quality of the artificial grass.

See the comprehensive list of alternative infill options below. Our expert team can advise you on which product will work best for your astrof turf pitch.

Sports pitches rubber infill removal – How It Works

Sportslawn have specialist machinery capable of extracting any kind a infill material. View our Youtube video of our machinery at work – rubber crumb removal

Sports pitches rubber infill removal
Sports pitches rubber infill removal

Comparison of different Infill Materials

Following sports pitches rubber infill removal there is a number of alternative options:

SBR

Advantages

  • Recycled material
  • Budget friendly
  • Frost free
  • UV stable
  • Durable
  • Good performance

Disadvantages

  • Black colour
  • Odour
  • Heat-warming-up
  • Dust, compaction

EPDM

Advantages

  • Different colours available
  • No odour
  • If min.20% EPDM==>ok
  • No heavy metals
  • Controlled quality

Disadvantages

  • Not recyclable(vulcaniszed)
  • Dust, low abrasion resistance
  • Porous material, can absorb water
  • Becomes hard in winter

TPE

Advantages

  • Different colours available
  • no odour
  • recyclable
  • no heavy metals
  • controlled quality

Disadvantages

  • low volume,7kg=10mm
  • need of a shockpad
  • become soft in summertime and can stick to the fibres

Geofill

Advantages

  • natural aspect
  • no odour
  • cool in summertime
  • no heavy metals
  • flame retardant

Disadvantages

  • mixture coconut-cork-TPE
  • compaction*
  • pH=5,4==> acid(possible reaction with fibre)
  • not recyclable(mixture)
  • micro-organisms present==>
  • change of structure
  • hard surface after few years due to compaction bad drainage

Naturafill

Advantages

  • 100% pure nature product=oak
  • odorless
  • no micro-organisms
  • no heavy metals
  • 100% recyclable
  • no additives
  • cool in summertime
  • soft in wintertime,not frozen
  • isolating properties (90% of cork is air)
  • stable + retain its shape
  • excellent shock absorbing properties
  • flame retardant
  • perfect drainage
  • controlled quality
  • no compaction

Disadvantages

  • colour become a little bit grey but keeps his fysical properties

 

* 13kg/m² Geofill has infillheight of 35mm ==> after 5200 cycles infill height is only 19mm ==> compaction==> low shockabsorbing properties( difficult to achieve FIFA 2* after 5200 cycles) 5kg/m² naturafill has infill height of 35mm ==> after 5200 cycles infill height is still 30mm==> NO compaction ==> high shockabsorbing properties even after 20.200 cycles 59% ==> by -5°C still 62% shock absorption