To: Turf ReportRespon.se@yahoo. cam Date: Thu, 12 May 2011. 21.

59:42

I have played soccer for 28 years. The only time I have suffered a serious injury was when playing on synthetic turf. The ankle sprain l suffered put my kg in a cast for two weeks. With the recent onslaught of installation of syn-turf fields in the DC metro region, I fear that the ability of my legs to withstand playing on this surface will severely limit my future chances of playing the beautiful game. After every soccer game on syn-turf, my knees ache. After playing on natural turf. I feel energized. I worked for the plastics industry for eight years on environmental issues related to recovery and recycling of plastics from post-consumer packaging and durable goods. The plastic rug that is removed from an athletic field at the end o1 the syn-turfs useful life is a durable good. It has multiple layers and the economics of recovering the individual plastic polymers that go into its construction will be very complicated. This will drive the cost to recycle this material to uneconomical levels. After all, for something to be recycled, the cost of recovering the useful material cannot exceed the value of the material in the marketplace. This reality results in the material being landfilled or incinerated. If the syn-turf industry is going to conduct a demonstration project on the recycling of syn-turf, that is a demonstrat+ , -n and does not connote recycling_ The question to ask the syn-turf industry is this: if syn-turf is being recycled, into what products is it being made? If they can't tell you what products arc being manufactured from it, then they should be able to tell you what plastics are being recovered from the process and what company is doing the work_ What is the purity of the recovered polymers and where are they being sold. I have spoken with technical representatives of the Association of Postc.onsurner Plastic Recyclers, www.annorg and they informed me that they arc completely unaware of any company in the United States recycling syn-turf. For the you complicated reasons that I have provided. The plastics industry spent roughly 5500.000 during the '90s on technical research to recycle the various plastics from automotive bumper systems. The technology to recycle syn-turf is no less complicated. Where are the research papers on the process and where were the technical trials conducted? Unless they can provide the answers to all of these questions, its a pretty safe bet that the recycling of syn-turf is a pipe dream. Which means that cities, counties and localities are going to have to pay to dispose of these massive rugs by landfilling or incineration. Respectfully, Bailey Condrey, Jr. Eclipse Solutions Corporate Communications 10205 Parkwood Drive Kensington, MD 20895