In conjunction with E.MA.PRI.CE and Graneco Rubber, another company of the Daniele Group, Campi Calcio develops football pitches made of artificial lawns, which in turn are produced from recycled tyres. This is an activity very much in keeping with the ecological orientation of the company, which turns a product that has always been difficult to recycle into rubber granulate, which is then used in the production of artificial pitches, thus giving both an economic and a technical edge to the game.
With their soft yet resistant fibres and innovative filler materials, the new types of artificial lawn meet both athletic and ecological requirements and have long since earned their place in the sporting world. Top sports associations such as FIFA or UEFA have even launched their own sets of guidelines to develop an international standard for artificial pitches. Top European clubs such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and FC Ajax have already equipped their training centres with artificial pitches, thus causing a boom in artificial lawn sales.
In Italy, used tyres result in approximately 350,000 tonnes of waste each year.
This waste, which since 16 July 2003, when Italian legislative decree 136/03, Art. 6, Paragraph
1 came into force, has had to be disposed of as special waste, constitutes a significant problem
for humans and the environment.
By finding new ways of recycling old tyres while at the same time introducing new techniques and
materials for the production of artificial lawn, used car tyres have become a valuable raw
material for the creation of high-performance filler material for artificial lawn playing
fields. Both in its original, non-processed form (black) or treated with resins (isocyanate
coating in grey, green or brown), this rubber granulate (SBR) is used in almost all artificial
lawn pitches. Last but not least, this sensible, economic recycling process has many advantages
for our environment.
Although it is more expensive to acquire than its natural counterpart, artificial lawn is cheaper in the long run when looking at standard and non-standard maintenance. As it is so easy to care for, artificial lawn is mostly an optimal solution for smaller football clubs that cannot afford expensive staff to maintain their natural pitches.
Artificial lawn football pitches can be used in all weathers. Irrespective of the season,
artificial lawn always has the same characteristics and guarantees optimal playing quality due
to the unique form and composition of its fibres. Football games played on artificial pitches
never have to be postponed or cancelled as a result of poor weather conditions (rain, mud, snow,
etc.). Another important difference between artificial and natural lawn is that the former is
designed for more intensive use. A natural lawn pitch can withstand an average of 250 and up to
a maximum of 300 hours of play per year, while an artificial pitch can be used seven days a
week. Another argument in favour of an artificial pitch is the homogeneous quality of the lawn,
which is the same all over the pitch. An artificial pitch will never have bare patches, where
grass no longer grows due to excessively intensive activity (such as near the goal posts or at
the centre of the pitch).
Artificial lawn provides maximum playing facilities and has significant advantages over natural
lawn: less fatigue and muscle injuries, a longer service life, lower maintenance costs, higher
playing quality.
