Artificial turf fields used to be a luxury only colleges and pro teams could afford, but now they’re a common sight at high schools across the country.

The fields do have a life span, however, and when they wear out, there are tons of plastic and rubber that need to go somewhere.

A European company wants to open a plant in Rush Township where they would recycle the fields into plastic and rubber which could be used to make new ones.

“We take up and sell 3,500 playing fields in a year, in the United States. And the only people in the world recycling it is this visionary company,” said Joe Guzek, an engineer from Lackawanna County who is working for Re-Match on its proposed Rush Township location.

Re-Match Turf Recycling has a turf recycling facility in Denmark. They recently rented a warehouse in the Rush Township Industrial Park, which they plan to turn into a facility for recycling artificial turf fields.

The company hopes to start recycling turf in 2024. In the meantime they have been storing rolls of old turf, sometimes in violation of state environmental regulations.

Re-Match wants to locate in Rush Township because they found a building which can fit their operation, which is centrally located between population centers on the East Coast with a large number of artificial turf fields.

“We need a high density of fields in an area where we operate,” said Rasmus Damhus, Global Product Manager for Re-Match.

Each year, hundreds of artificial turf fields reach the end of their life span. Modern artificial turf fields have a life span of 8-12 years. Sunlight weakens the synthetic ‘grass’ fibers and they wear out. When a school replaces their field, the cost of removal is usually included in the contract for the installation of a new one.

The removal cost, which runs in the tens of thousands of dollars, covers the cost of putting it in a landfill. However some fields end up as rolls on private property, in violation of local zoning regulations and state environmental regulations.

Re-Match wants to offer a third option - turf installers could pay them to recycle the fields they are replacing. The company says it hopes to charge the same or less than it costs to put an artificial turf field in a landfill.

“A lot of field owners say, one of the prerequisites for you to take up my field is that I want the field to be recycled. That’s shifted from a few years ago,” Damhus said.

Though they are trying to eliminate the problem, Re-Match has run into issues storing some turf fields which contractors have paid them to take in.

The Rush Township site has already received a notice of violation from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for storing the rolls of turf outside. They have since moved the rolls inside the warehouse.

Re-Match moved the turf to Rush Township from a farm in Lebanon County. Earlier this year a judge ordered them to clean up the field because it was an illegal use of agricultural land.

A different Lebanon site where Re-Match stored turf in Lebanon County received a notice of violation earlier this year. They face a hearing in the case later this month.

Guzek says that despite the judge’s order, they have temporarily halted moving any new material to Rush Township until they meet DEP’s conditions. They also purchased a machine for wrapping hay bales in plastic - which they will use for any rolls they store outdoors.

“We did make good here. Everything’s inside, and we have cleaned up outside,” Guzek said.

According to Re-Match, they needed to buy the turf to see if the market will support their recycling facility.

Re-Match originally planned to move to a Luzerne County industrial park, but it fell through because the facility didn’t allow them to store the material outside. The Wolf Administration agreed to give the project a $1.85 million loan and $173,000 in grants to help the project get off the ground, incentives which Guzek said will be applied to the Rush Township site. Re-Match expects to employ 30 full-time employees at the plant when it opens.

In June, the Rush Township zoning hearing board gave Re-Match approval to expand the building, and use it as a recycling center, which isn’t specifically allowed in the industrial zone.

Sometime next year, Re-Match plans to begin modifying the building. By early 2024, they expect to receive the equipment to recycle turf, which is made in a factory in Germany. The equipment costs about $8 million to produce.

When the facility is up and running, Re-Match plans to store significantly more turf on its site. Turf fields are typically only removed during a period of a few months during the spring and summer, but Re-Match plans to operate the plant year-round. They estimate that the plant will be capable of recycling 250 playing fields per year.

“You take up fields of this sort when you don’t use them. Here, it’s two or three months, and we need to get the material for the entire year,” Damhus said.