Sustainability
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Sustainability

Progress through better choices

TenCate develops and manufactures surfaces and systems that enable sport, recreation and outdoor living around the world. Doing that requires materials, energy, manufacturing, transport and infrastructure. Reducing the impact associated with those activities starts with understanding where it occurs. That means looking across the lifecycle. At the materials used. How products are designed and manufactured. How much energy and water they require. How long they perform. And what can happen to their materials when their functional life ends. Progress comes from making better choices at each of those stages.

TenCate ESG Report

The TenCate Sustainability Report provides detailed information on environmental, social and governance topics across the group, including climate and energy, circularity, manufacturing, people, communities and governance. Performance is measured against defined indicators and reported to provide transparency on progress as well as the areas where further work is required. More information, data and examples of progress can be found on the TenCate ESG website.
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ESG Report 2024
ESG Report booklet printed version
Close-up of hands holding and sorting small green plastic granules.
What happens at the end of a product's functional life is influenced by decisions made at the beginning. ONE DNA™ applies that principle by using polyethylene from fibre to backing. This reduces material complexity and supports mechanical recycling into PE recyclate, depending on available recycling infrastructure. Infill free systems such as Pure PT™ take another approach. Removing infill reduces the amount and number of materials required within the field and eliminates the need to replenish performance infill during use.

Different technologies require different solutions. The common principle is to consider material use and end of life during product development, rather than after the product has been installed.

Worker inspecting artificial turf by running a hand over the grass fibers during testing..
Product lifetime matters. Extending the functional life of surfaces and systems can reduce the frequency of replacement and the need for new materials, manufacturing, transport and installation. But longevity alone is not enough. A surface also needs to maintain its intended performance throughout that life. That is why durability and long term performance are considered together during product development.

Pure PT™ is one example. Extensive wear testing and real world validation support a warranty of up to 12 years, reflecting the focus on both durability and performance over time. Laboratory testing, field measurements, maintenance and real world validation help understand how systems behave under repeated use and changing conditions, and how their functional life can be extended.

The objective is straightforward: products that last longer and continue to perform throughout their functional life.
Worker operating a large industrial yarn-winding machine inside a manufacturing facility.
Manufacturing, materials and transport all contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. TenCate measures Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions and has expanded its emissions inventory to include relevant Scope 3 categories. The 2024 assessment showed that Scope 3 represented the majority of the emissions inventory, with purchased goods and services the largest reported category.

This information helps identify where attention can have the greatest effect. Energy consumption is monitored across manufacturing operations, alongside the contribution from renewable sources. Energy efficiency projects, onsite generation and changes to manufacturing processes are part of the work to better understand and reduce energy use. Product design matters here too. Material choice, system weight and manufacturing processes all influence lifecycle energy use and emissions.
Field hockey player in white dribbling the ball on an artificial turf pitch, approaching a goalkeeper in protective gear.
Water requirements vary significantly between sports and surface technologies. Hockey is a clear example. Traditional high level hockey surfaces use irrigation to achieve the friction and ball behaviour required for play.

Pure EP approaches that requirement differently. Its fibre and surface construction are designed to provide the required playing characteristics without irrigation. Removing that dependency means water is no longer required to prepare the surface for its intended hockey performance. 
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Reducing manufacturing waste is another part of the picture. TenCate tracks landfill diversion across its manufacturing operations and is working with independent third party UL Solutions to validate waste management performance against the UL 2799A framework.

Under this framework, manufacturing operations must divert at least 90 percent of applicable waste from landfill through routes other than waste to energy to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill validation.

Monitoring these material flows helps identify where manufacturing waste can be avoided, reused, recycled or otherwise diverted from landfill.
Piece of used artificial turf being lifted and dropped into an industrial recycling machine.
Designing a product for recycling and actually recycling it are two different things. Collection, separation, processing technology, transport and local infrastructure all influence what happens when a surface is removed.

TenCate works with end of life partners and is developing recycling capabilities in different markets. The appropriate route varies by product and location. For newer systems, the aim is increasingly to reduce material complexity at the design stage. For existing multi material turf systems, different mechanical and other recycling technologies may be required.

The objective is to improve the ability to recover material value rather than treating every removed surface in the same way.
 
foot placed on football on artificial pitch

Environmental performance cannot be understood from a single characteristic. Less material does not automatically mean lower impact. A longer product life does not automatically mean better environmental performance. And designing a product for recycling does not guarantee that recycling will take place.

Lifecycle Assessment provides a way to examine impacts across multiple stages of a product's life. TenCate uses product level LCA studies to evaluate lifetime energy and emissions performance and is continuing to expand the use of quantified environmental data in product development.

This provides a stronger basis for decisions than assumptions or individual product claims.

Accountability and transparency

Progress requires measurement. Greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, waste diversion and product level environmental performance are monitored within TenCate and reviewed through its ESG governance structure. The Sustainability Report makes those results visible, including where progress has been made and where further work remains. The latest data, developments and examples can also be explored on the TenCate ESG website.

There is no single solution to reducing the impact of sport, recreation and outdoor living surfaces. Progress comes from understanding the complete lifecycle, measuring what matters and continuing to improve the decisions made along the way.

Measure. Understand. Improve.