The Danish recycling company Re-Match has since 2013 been a leading recycler of synthetic turf pitches in Europe. Last year, Re-Match opened its second factory in Tiel in the Netherlands, and more recently its third factory in Erstein outside of Strasbourg in France.
This development is the basis for the expanded cooperation between Re-Match and Geminor, explains Operations Director at Geminor, Kasper Thomsen.
– We have for a decade assisted Re-Match within logistics, managing transport and export permits (TFS) for old synthetic turf pitches that are worn out. We have also assisted with offtake for the residual plastics that cannot be recycled, says Operations Director at Geminor, Kasper Thomsen.
– We will in the coming year provide more volumes of up to 10-year-old artificial turf from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and other EU countries to the new recycling factories in Tiel and Erstein. There is a growing number of European synthetic turfs that need to be diverted from landfill, making this a valued assignment and partnership for Geminor, says Thomsen.
Becomes new products
Re-Match offers an environmentally sustainable recycling process, and has recycled more than 160.000 tonnes of waste turfs during its 11 years in operation. The output from the recycling factories consists of dry and sieved materials that are 99 percent clean and ready to be reused in products within automotive and furniture – but also in new artificial turfs.
The founder of Re-Match A/S, Dennis Andersen, is pleased to see the cooperation with Geminor being expanded.
– We have been partners since both companies were quite modest in size, and we have grown together within the recycling industry. Currently, Re-Match needs a well-functioning cooperation in order to deal with the big challenges that old synthetic turfs represent today, and we are therefore very pleased to have Geminor as a partner in this growing recycling operation, says Andersen.
– Every year, Europe needs to replace 4500 synthetic turfs, which constitutes about 1 million tonnes of waste. At present, Re-Match only has the capacity to handle about 620 of these synthetic turfs. We hope to increase our capacity in the time to come, but there will still be an urgent need to increase the material recycling of synthetic turfs within the EU, concludes the founder of Re-Match, Dennis Andersen.
