Kickstart: A second life for artificial turf

Some high school football fields are about to be reborn.

TenCate Grass, ExxonMobil and Cyclyx are working on a pilot program to reclaim aging polyethylene artificial turf through chemical recycling and put the material back into new turf and other programs.

TenCate Turf Recycling Solutions is starting by processing 50 turf fields from high schools and college campuses. The end-of-life turf will be shipped to a Southern California facility where it will be shredded.

From there, it will go to Cyclyx International in Texas for further pre-processing before it goes to ExxonMobil's Baytown, Texas, facility for recycling.

TenCate maintains that artificial turf is a better environmental choice because it doesn't require watering, mowing or other maintenance.

"Finding an effective way to recycle synthetic turf will make it an even better option. Although many companies talk about the recyclability of artificial grass, that usually means the old turf is repurposed for use in other applications, such as in batting cages or for groundcover. But ultimately, this turf ends up in landfills or discarded piles," the company said.

When PN's Steve Toloken wrote about safety issues in the plastics industry last month, he noted that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration lists violations of lockout/tag-out rules as the issue generating the most fines from OSHA for plastics companies.

Now OSHA is out with its preliminary top 10 most frequently cited workplace standards for all businesses, and —unsurprisingly — lockout/tag-out is on that list.

In a news release from the National Safety Council, OSHA says the biggest issue is related to failing to follow requirements for fall protection, which yielded 5,260 violations.

That is followed by:

• Failures in hazard communications, 2,424 violations.

• Inadequate respiratory protection, 2,185 violations.

• Improper use of ladders, 2,143 violations.

• Unsafe scaffolding, 2,058 violations.

• Lockout/tag-out comes in at No. 6 with 1,977 violations.

• Issues with powered industrial trucks, 1,749 violations.

• Failure to meet training requirements related to fall protection, 1,556 violations.

• Improper or missing eye and face protection for personal protective equipment and lifesaving equipment, 1,401 violations.

• Lack of proper machine guarding, 1,370 violations.

"Despite advancements in workplace safety, we continue to see the same types of violations each year," NSC President and CEO Lorraine Martin said in the news release.

Some auto suppliers are making headway in trying to get more money for parts due to rising costs for their materials.

At the start of this week, Ford Motor Co. posted a financial update for investors about expectations for the rest of the year and added that: "Based on recent negotiations, inflation-related supplier costs during the third quarter will run about $1 billion higher than originally expected."

Reuters says Ford isn't alone. Suppliers it spoke to indicate that they are raising prices anywhere from 7 percent to 20 percent to its customers based on higher costs.

"It's hard to get out in front of it," Bill Berry, owner of injection mold and die maker Die-Tech & Engineering of Wyoming, Mich., told Reuters. "Our cost of raw materials has skyrocketed from an historical perspective."