Upcycling, the process of transforming waste materials into new products of higher value, has become a popular trend in recent years. Many of us maybe immediately think about turning old clothes or furniture into something new when we talk about recycling or upcycling, but there is another important area where this process can make a big impact - industrial materials.
Every day, huge amounts of industrial waste are produced by factories, construction sites, and other industrial operations. Rather than letting these materials go to waste, upcycling can transform them into useful products, reducing the need for new raw materials and cutting down on waste.
There are a wide variety of industrial materials that can be upcycled or recycled, including metals, plastics, and wood, while others pose serious problems and issues, among them synthetic turf.
In the early '90s, there was an environmental emergency connected with scrap tires in America: tires were causing toxic fires as they accumulated in stockpiles or were abandoned in woods and empty lots. A new industry was eventually created when they found a way to grind tires and used them to make artificial turf. This material was then employed in a variety of applications from schools and parks to stadiums. The industry boomed in America as this solution seemed to offer many pros: once installed synthetic turf cut the cost of water, eliminated the need for pesticides, fertilizers, and also constant mowing.
Yet, the average life of a pitch is 10 years, based on normal quality, proper installation, reasonable maintenance, exposure to sunlight and normal usage over its lifetime and, as they became more popular, over the course of a few decades, synthetic-turf fields eventually ended up causing the same problem of discarded tires - a surplus of worn-out millions of square feet of synthetic turf again piling up in landfills, woods and empty lots.
Landfill disposal became the most common method, but at times, abandoned in areas where they risked of getting into the drinking-water supply of nearby towns, synthetic turf rolls posed health risks (besides, rubber crumbs can break and end up being inhaled).
A parallel industry emerged with companies recycling old turf and selling it to private consumers for landscaping, dog kennels, or paintball arenas, but, even in these cases, such a material eventually ends up in a landfill.
The problem with synthetic turf is that it is a difficult material to recycle: it is indeed a bit like a toxic mille feuille with artificial grass-like blades (usually made of various polymers) interspersed with sand and pulverized tires that give the field stability and shock absorbency. Underneath the blades there are more layers of plastic and rubber, often including shock pads and drainage mats.
Separating all these materials is difficult, especially the sand and rubber infill, but industry experts say the hardest part is extracting the sand from the crumb rubber, which is necessary if someone wants to reuse the rubber for something else.
Luckily there have been great progresses when it comes to recycling this material: for example, Re-Match, founded in 2013 in Denmark by Dennis Andersen, has become a leader in recycling artificial turf pitches.
The company offers a patented and environmentally sustainable recycling process (that has received EU Environmental Technology Verification, ETV) that allows it to separate worn-out turf into clean raw components (sand, backing, rubber and plastic fiber) that are then sold in new production cycles or used for installation of new synthetic turf pitches.
But there are other ways to upcycle synthetic turf: painter Jane Dickson is known for her quintessential American scenes. Her subjects go from peep shows, porn parlors and casinos to suburban homes and grocery stores.
Quite often in her works there is a sense of isolation and alienation, while her prevalently dark palette with bursts of bright reds and electric oranges and moody blues, points at anguish, tension and anxiety.
Rather than mere canvases, the artist favours unconventional materials, including carpets, sandpaper and synthetic turf.
These unusual materials allow her to explore their textural possibilities and create paintings enhanced by a sort of three-dimensional consistency (surprisingly, so far, no fashion house has yet collaborated with her and recreated her works painted on these uncommon materials on wool or faux fur designs).
Given the textural composition and structure of AstroTurf and carpets, when Dickson paints on them she creates a sort of pointillism effect.
The final image looks a bit blurred, almost seen through a thick fog maybe and her paintings of gasoline stations, pharmacies, suburban scapes, malls, roads, highways and urban landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge, end up acquiring an uncanny ambiance, an eerie atmosphere, fraught with an unexplainable sense of foreboding and apprehension, but also of detachment, with a surreal twist added in the mix (think the "God" truck in one of her AstroTurf paintings).
So, while upcycling industrial materials is not without its challenges, with the right expertise and equipment, it can be a rewarding and sustainable way to create new products and breathe new life into them.
Concluding tip for art enthusiasts: for anyone who finds themselves in Belgium next week and is interested in delving deeper into Dickson's artistry and in her synthetic turf paintings, a visit to the Stems Gallery booth at Art Brussels (20th - 23rd April 2023) is highly recommended.
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