Lawn Sucks…
…up gallons and gallons of water. You may have seen our previous article in the “Water-Wise Gardening” category. We are not fans of vast expanses of grass unless it serves a useful purpose. Kids and animals can be the argument for a big lawn. Allergies can be a deal breaker. But, is there a compromise? Artificial grass has been around for quite a while. However, it was so cheesy, you could spot from a mileaway. Fake lawn, great… But there are now some pretty impressive options. Once again, at the AltBuild Show was a compelling product:http://www.aglgrassbykiktavi.com/This is an artificial lawn that does everything you want a lawn to do. It looks great, even up close, it’s good for kids and animals (even as the animal restroom), and more. No mowing, no watering, no weeding, no fertilizer (and so no toxic footprint), made with 100% recycled materials. Is it cheap? No. But do the math. Figure in all the costs of lawn maintenance (and don’t forget that lawn accounts for 32% of outside water use). The payback could make up for the cost fairly quickly. Check it out, but always compare to other vendors and their products. This one isn’t the only game in town, but it is a quality product. We’d like to hear about others you find.
Filed under: water-wise gardening on May 18th, 2008
Hi:
I noticed your post about artificial grass- I’m not sure who you are but I sure do appreciate your coverage of eco topics and particularly synthetic grass. I wanted to bring something very importat to your attention. We (SYNlawn) were represented at Alt Build this year as we have proudly been every year since its inception.
We are the largest manufacturer of synthetic landscape grass in the country.
No other vendors were supposed to be displaying artificial grass at Alt Build, but one vender saw fit to display some on the floor of their booth and in a little box on top of a table.
The grass was from AGL Landscape, as you describe and it was displayed by an eco design firm.
Sometime last year this design firm solicited a free installation from SYNLawn at its design center in West Hollywood so that it could market SYNLawn products. We agreed to it and installed it at no charge (a $2,000 value) only to find out a few months later that the grass had been taken out and replaced with this “grass” full of rubber tire crumbs from AGL Landscape.
I first learned about this at Alt Build and I informed the design firm that the product they were so proudly displaying as being made of 100% recycled fibers was in fact, nothing but pretty “generic” fake grass with rubber crumb infill and was not at all made from recylced fibers. Not even 1%. They first tried to defend it, then said, well, the plant recycles it’s own scraps, etc. The fibers are absolutely not made of recylcede materials at all. By generic, I mean piolyethylene fibers mixed with nylon fibers or other polyethylene fibers as a thatch tufted into a backing.
One can purchase grass substantially the same as that from almost any artificial grass installer.
The web site for that grass company at one time claimed that many of the products were made from 100% recycled fibers and from recycled fibers.
The site then switched to saying that just one was made of 100% recycled fibers- as of the date of ALt Build approximately.
I then called that company and asked them about it. At first they said it was true- they were recycled. When I pressed them on that, then they back pedaled and said it was made of 100% “recyclable” fibers. That’s a bit like saying that plastic water bottles are made of 100% recyclable plastic! Except unlike for water bottles, there is no real fake grass recycling market at all.
The web site was subsequently changed to say that the fibers are “100% recyclable”- and since they are polyethylene and nylon, that’s certainly no earth shattering claim! All synthetic grass are similarly recyclable.
I spoke to this company on the telephone- they claimed to have 3 manufacturing plants and to have been “doing this” for 18 years. When I pressed them on that, it changed to they have grass made for them by a brand new plant in Texas (The same plant that makes landscape grass for another brand name that just popped up on the scene here in the States)
They said that in Ontario, Canada- their home province in Canada- they have about 200 installations of residential and commercial grass and in Southern California, something like 20-40 and that’s over the last 1-2 years in California, longer in Ontario. They said they were in business here 1-2 years but were not really “pushing it” until recently (FYI- that’s a range of 100%!)
To put things in persepctive, a really busy synthetic grass company like SYNLawn is installing 20-40 installations a week in Southern California alone.
SYNLawn products do contain environmentally friendly componants- like our Enviroloc(TM) backing which incorporates renewable resources like Biocel(TM), a soy bean oil based replacement for some of the petroleum product fillers used in the back coating process of any quality artificial grass.
Some of our products contain recycled plastic soda bottles and other ancillary products contain 98% recylced content.
There is no such thing as artificial grass blades made from recylced materials- not 100%, not 85% (as another Southern California web site claims www.socalsportsllc.com or www.recylcedlawn.com), and not 1% (when it comes to the blades).
Ask them to explain what is recycled, where this is being done and for the name and number of the manufacturer. You will find that it is not the case at all.
SYNLawn backing materials can be 60 to 70% Green by reasonable standards, but not the fibers.
Moreover, rubber tire crumbs that are used to fill in most of these football field grass products disguised as landscape grasses are not made from “recycled” tires. They are made from tires that are being ground up or shreaded then spread on these lawns temporarily until the rubber washes out into gutters, storm drains, or gets carried away in shoes, on clothes, by pets, or blown away, etc. It is not at all regulated in that capacity, and that is the dirty little secret of the rubber infill technology.
What you should know about artificial grass is that it is a product. if it is supposed to have a warranty, you should be buying it from a manufacturer that installs it, not from a chain of middle men. You shuld demand to know what it is, who made it and who do you call if that little installer company goes out of business, because they go out of business all the time.
You should expect that the company has installed thousands of lawns if not tens of thousands. DO the math- if someone tells you they have 2 crews and that they have installed 3500 putting greens since 1998- do the math. That’s 350 a year if they had zero growth and started at 350 a year. That’s 7 putting greens a week with 2 crews. How do they do that??? I borrowed that exact story info from the claims of a good sized installer company in the Palm Springs area.
You should expect that the company has their own installers that work for them as full time employees, and that they have physical buidlings and operations, not ust a truck. You should expect that they be licensed and insured. Don’t be fooled by these installers that say they are exempt from worker’s comp because they have no employees. but then claim to install with their own crews!
Price is one thing, quality is another thing all together. You need to learn what quality is- and that takes time to understand.
If a company cannot show you over 10 front lawns near you, then something is wrong. Be weary of companies that make grand claims, but the logic just doesn’t add up. It;s your money- spend it wisely and treat it claims with the credulity you would any prospective investment in a major purchase for your home.
If you want to learn more about synthetic landscape grass, please feel free to contact SYNLawn at www.synlawn.com.
There has been discussion here of installation quality with artificial lawns. I have experience of this, as I am involved with an artificial grass company in the UK.
Surface preparation is very important: our recommended method uses a base of compacted aggregate.
Another important issue is making any joints. Whoever is doing the installation needs to know to cut close to the stitches and not to push the two pieces of grass firmly together (if that happens there will be a visible line). In fact, a very slight gap is preferable to having the two pieces pushed firmly together.