Senbis and its partners win tender for a Dutch government grant to develop a fully compostable artificial grass system
Emmen, 2nd of December 2019
The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports has granted Senbis Polymer Innovations BV an assignment to develop a fully compostable artificial grass system. The project is executed under the name of GreenMaxx by a consortium consisting of Sweco Nederland, Antea Sport, EdelGrass, TenCate Grass and Senbis Polymer Innovations. An initial feasibility study has already been successfully completed. It concluded that a high market potential exists for the compostable artificial grass system. This motivated the consortium to apply for this grant for the development of the whole system.
The goal of this government tender is to come up with a good end-of-life solution for artificial grass systems. The to be developed GreenMaxx system will be fully compostable. This means that at the end of its functional life, this grass field can be collected and brought to a composting facility where it will be fully composted. The compost can then be used as e.g. soil fertilizer. In addition to the end-of-life solution, the consortium has the ambition to also address the microplastic problem of artificial grass in its direct environment, by working with biodegradable polymers.
The Government Agency RVO acknowledged the strength of both the proposal as well as the consortium. Senbis will focus on the development of biopolymer compounds for the textiles and grass yarns. Ten Cate grass will focus on yarn extrusion and EdelGrass on the weaving of the system. Antea will steer the developments regarding ease of installation. Sweco will provide all environmental analyses and guidance that are required for developing a product with such ecological claims.
The Ministry wants to solve the problematic waste treatment fast and asked the consortium to come up with a working solution by the end of 2020. In the beginning of 2021, the consortium wants to install a GreenMaxx pilot field in the Netherlands.
On the 23th of January 2020 Senbis received an award as recognition for the winning of this tender. Managing Director Gerard Nijhoving received the award during the sports event “Sportief Verbinden” in Amsterdam together with Gosewin Bos, Director Sport of the Antea Group and Michael R. Vogel, CEO of TenCate Grass.
