The honest environmental criticism of artificial turf has always been the end of life question. Turf lasts 15 to 20 years, saves irrigation water, and eliminates lawn chemicals. But when it comes out of the ground at the end of its life, all that fiber, all that backing, all that infill, where does it go?
Until very recently, the answer was a landfill. An old residential yard, a school athletic field, a commercial installation, virtually all of it went into the ground. A single sports field contains the rough plastic equivalent of 100,000 plastic bottles. The US has upward of 12,000 synthetic turf sports fields, growing by hundreds each year, plus a rapidly expanding residential and commercial installation base.
That problem now has a real answer. Not a complete one, the logistics are still scaling and residential access is still developing, but a genuine industrial chain that turns end of life turf into virgin quality raw material for new products. It involves three companies, two states, and a recycling technology that did not exist at commercial scale five years ago.
Landin Terry says: The recycling question is the one we have not had a good answer to for as long as we have been installing turf. We want to be straight about where that answer stands today, it is real, it is operating, and it is not yet available to every Lubbock homeowner on demand. But it is coming, and understanding how it works matters if you are making a 20 year installation decision.
The Recycling Chain: Who Does What and Where
The current advanced recycling solution for artificial turf involves three organizations working in sequence. Here is the full chain from removal to new raw material.
| Step | Who | Location | What Happens | Result |
| 1 | Installer / removal crew | At your property | Old turf is carefully removed from the ground, nails pulled, edging taken out, turf rolled and bundled | Rolled bundles of end of life turf ready for transport |
| 2 | TenCate Turf Recycling Solutions | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Turf is received, infill is extracted and recovered, fiber and backing are separated from each other and from sand/granule content | Clean, separated turf components, fiber and backing ready for advanced recycling |
| 3 | Cyclyx International (ExxonMobil JV) | Houston/Baytown area, Texas | Pre-processed turf material is sorted, characterized, and blended to meet the feedstock specifications of the advanced recycling unit | Consistent pyrolysis ready feedstock at the spec ExxonMobil’s Baytown facility requires |
| 4 | ExxonMobil — Exxtend technology | Baytown, Texas | Advanced recycling (pyrolysis) breaks the plastic down to its molecular building blocks, hydrocarbons that become raw petrochemical feedstock | Pyrolysis oil and feedstock indistinguishable in quality from virgin raw materials |
| 5 | Manufacturers | Anywhere | The raw material from step 4 re enters the supply chain as virgin quality polyethylene feedstock, the same material used to make new turf fiber | New products, including potentially new artificial turf blades, closing the circle |
A few things in that table are worth emphasizing. First: the TenCate program accepts turf from any manufacturer, not just TenCate products. If LBK installs your yard today using TigerTurf Everglade Fescue, that yard is eligible for this recycling chain when it reaches end of life, regardless of whether TenCate made the original product. Second: the endpoint is virgin quality polyethylene, which can go back into making new products including new turf fiber. This is a true circular loop, not downcycling into lower grade material.
TenCate Turf Recycling Solutions: The Baton Rouge Facility
TenCate Turf Recycling Solutions (TTRS) is a US affiliate of Netherlands-based TenCate Grass, one of the world’s largest synthetic turf manufacturers. TTRS operates from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a strategic location given its proximity to ExxonMobil’s major chemical processing infrastructure along the Gulf Coast corridor.
At the Louisiana facility, end of life turf goes through a multi step separation process. The infill, sand, ZeoFill, Envirofill, or crumb rubber depending on the original installation, is extracted and recovered. The fiber and backing layers are separated from each other and from residual granular content. The result is clean, separated components ready for the next step in the chain.
TTRS launched as a pilot program in 2022, initially processing 50 sports fields from California. The program is actively scaling, their stated goal is nationwide expansion, with plans to expand acceptance beyond the California pilot base. Residential turf from Texas is within their geographic interest as that expansion develops.
You can contact TTRS directly at turfrecycling.us to inquire about current program availability for your installation. If you have a replacement project coming up, removing an older yard to put in a new LBK install, this is the conversation worth having before the old turf goes to a dumpster.
Cyclyx and ExxonMobil Baytown: The Texas End of the Chain
Cyclyx International is a plastics recycling consortium company originally formed with ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell as joint venture partners. Its stated mission is to increase the recycling rate of plastic from 10 percent to 90 percent by developing the collection and pre-processing infrastructure that advanced recyclers require.
Cyclyx’s role in the turf chain is pre processing. The separated turf material from TenCate’s Louisiana facility arrives at Cyclyx, where it is further characterized, sorted, and blended to meet the specific feedstock specifications of ExxonMobil’s Baytown advanced recycling unit. Different types of plastics have different properties, Cyclyx’s expertise is preparing mixed plastic streams to hit consistent specs that recycling technology requires.
The ExxonMobil Baytown facility is where the chemistry happens. Using ExxonMobil’s proprietary Exxtend technology, a form of advanced recycling, also called chemical recycling or pyrolysis, the processed plastic material is broken down into its molecular building blocks. The result is a hydrocarbon feedstock, essentially pyrolysis oil, that re-enters ExxonMobil’s chemical processing complex and becomes virgin-quality polyethylene pellets.
ExxonMobil brought its first advanced recycling unit at Baytown online in December 2022. A second unit came online in June 2025. A third unit was announced as fully operational in February 2026, bringing the Baytown site’s total advanced recycling capacity to 250 million pounds of plastic scrap per year. ExxonMobil has stated plans for up to one billion pounds of annual capacity across its facilities globally by 2026.
Advanced Recycling vs. Mechanical Recycling vs. Downcycling
Those three terms get used interchangeably in public coverage and they are not the same thing. Understanding the difference matters for evaluating what this program actually delivers.
| Method | What Actually Happens | Output Quality | Honest Assessment |
| Landfill | Turf goes into the ground | N/A — waste | The default outcome for virtually all residential turf today. 100,000+ plastic bottles per sports field equivalent. |
| Downcycling / repurposing | Old turf is cut into pieces and used for batting cages, horse arenas, dog runs, erosion control | Lower use application | Better than landfill. Not a true circle, the material still eventually becomes waste. |
| Mechanical recycling | Turf is ground/shredded and reformed into lower-grade plastic products | Lower than virgin | Viable but results in downcycled material with reduced properties. The mixed materials in turf (fiber + backing + infill) make clean mechanical recycling difficult. |
| Advanced recycling (TenCate / Cyclyx / ExxonMobil chain) | Pyrolysis breaks turf to molecular level, becomes raw petrochemical feedstock for new products | Virgin-quality | The most complete current solution for residential and commercial turf. Requires collection logistics. Currently scaling from pilot. |
The advanced recycling approach is genuinely different from anything the turf industry has offered before. Previous programs that claimed to ‘recycle’ turf were almost always downcycling, cutting old turf for horse arenas, batting cages, or erosion mats. Those applications still eventually become waste, just with a delay. The TenCate/Cyclyx/ExxonMobil chain actually eliminates the plastic from the waste stream by returning it to feedstock quality that can become new material indefinitely.
The Honest Limitations Right Now
This post would not be doing its job if it did not address what the program currently cannot do for a typical Lubbock residential customer.
The program is still scaling
The pilot started with 50 sports fields in California. The residential and geographically distributed collection infrastructure is still being built out. Requesting recycling for a single residential yard in Lubbock today requires direct contact with TenCate to determine what collection logistics are available. It is not a drop-off service with a Lubbock location yet.
Logistics add cost and carbon
Getting turf from a Lubbock backyard to Baton Rouge and then to Baytown involves transportation that itself has an environmental footprint. For a sports field, where the volume justifies dedicated logistics, the math is favorable. For a single residential yard, the transport to material ratio is harder. This is part of why the program is scaling from large volume institutional clients toward residential, the logistics economics have to work.
Advanced recycling itself is not universally endorsed
Chemical recycling / pyrolysis has supporters and critics. The process is energy-intensive. Some environmental organizations prefer mechanical recycling or product redesign over chemical breakdown. The honest characterization is that advanced recycling is a significant improvement over landfill, is operational at meaningful scale, and is currently the most viable path to true circularity for a material as complex as artificial turf. It is not a perfect solution, but it is a real one.
What This Means If You Are Installing Turf in Lubbock Today
The recycling question matters for a long term investment decision. Here is the practical takeaway.
If you are installing new turf: you are putting down a product that has a recycling path at the end of life, one that did not exist five years ago and is actively growing. A 2026 installation will reach end of life around 2041 to 2046. By then, the collection logistics for residential turf in Texas will very likely be more accessible than they are today.
If you are replacing existing turf: contact TenCate Turf Recycling Solutions at turfrecycling.us before the old turf goes to a dumpster. Even if full residential collection is not yet available in Lubbock, the program is interested in expanding and direct inquiry moves that process forward.
The lifespan point is relevant: a quality LBK installation designed to last 15 to 20 years defers the recycling question by 15 to 20 years. The recycling infrastructure will be meaningfully more developed by the time your yard reaches end of life than it is today, which is an argument for investing in quality from the start rather than replacing a budget installation every 7 to 8 years.
The product matters for recyclability: polyethylene fiber, what all of LBK’s residential products use is the feedstock that TenCate’s program is specifically designed to process. Not all turf materials are equally recyclable in this chain.
The Broader Environmental Picture for Lubbock Turf
Recycling is one part of the environmental case for artificial turf. The others are already significant on their own terms in Lubbock specifically.
Water: an LBK residential yard eliminates outdoor irrigation demand. Lubbock’s water restrictions and the long term state of the Ogallala Aquifer make this the most immediately meaningful environmental benefit of the installation. The water not consumed by a turf yard is a real and compounding benefit year over year.
Lawn chemicals: fertilizer, pre emergent herbicide, pest and fungus treatments, Bermuda grass in Lubbock requires them all at real cost and with real environmental runoff consequences. An artificial turf yard eliminates that chemical input entirely.
Carbon footprint: the manufacturing of artificial turf does have an upfront carbon cost. Against that upfront cost, a 15 year horizon of no mowing, no irrigation energy, and no synthetic chemical inputs produces a net environmental ledger that most lifecycle analyses find favorable for turf in high maintenance, high water use markets like Lubbock.
The end of life recycling chain, as it continues to scale, closes the last major gap in that environmental case.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I recycle artificial turf from my Lubbock yard?
The recycling infrastructure exists but residential collection logistics in Lubbock are still developing. TenCate Turf Recycling Solutions (turfrecycling.us) accepts end of life turf from any manufacturer through their Baton Rouge, Louisiana processing facility. Their program is scaling from sports fields toward residential. The right first step is contacting them directly, especially if you have a replacement project coming up where old turf is being removed and has to go somewhere.
Does TenCate only recycle its own turf products?
No. TenCate Turf Recycling Solutions explicitly accepts aged turf from any manufacturer. If your yard was installed by LBK using TigerTurf Everglade Fescue, Playground Fescue, Pet Turf, or any other polyethylene-based product, it is eligible for this program. The Louisiana facility processes the material regardless of who made the original turf.
What happens to the old turf after recycling, what does it become?
Through ExxonMobil’s advanced recycling process at the Baytown, Texas facility, the turf material is broken down to its molecular building blocks via pyrolysis. The output is a hydrocarbon feedstock, pyrolysis oil, that ExxonMobil processes into virgin quality polyethylene pellets. Those pellets go into the broader plastics supply chain and can become new products, including potentially new artificial turf fiber. It is a true closed loop outcome rather than downcycling into a lower grade application.
Is advanced recycling / chemical recycling actually better than mechanical recycling?
For artificial turf specifically, yes, because the mixed material composition of turf (polyethylene fiber, polyurethane backing, sand infill) makes clean mechanical recycling difficult. Mechanical recycling of mixed materials typically produces lower quality output with limited applications. Advanced recycling via pyrolysis breaks everything down to the molecular level and produces virgin quality feedstock regardless of the input material mix. The tradeoff is that the process is energy intensive. The net environmental assessment depends on what the alternative is, compared to landfill, advanced recycling is a significant improvement.
Why is the TenCate facility in Louisiana and not in Texas?
The Baton Rouge location positions TenCate’s processing facility within the Gulf Coast petrochemical corridor where ExxonMobil’s Baytown complex is accessible via Cyclyx’s pre-processing operation. ExxonMobil’s Baytown site, where the actual advanced recycling happens, is in Texas, near Houston. The Louisiana pre processing location reflects the geography of the industrial chain, not a limitation on Texas access. Turf from Texas installations is within the geographic scope of the program.
Want to Know What Happens to Your Turf at End of Life?
Ask us at the site visit. We can tell you which products in our lineup are best positioned for the TenCate recycling chain and connect you with current information on collection availability for Lubbock residential yards.
Reach out at lbkturfguys.com or call us at 806-999-4990.