Polytan Liga Turf GT zero and Polytan Base GT at the Sugar Mountain complex in Sendling
CO2-neutral synthetic turf at a former concrete plant
The Sugar Mountain complex in Sendling is unique in every sense. Located on the grounds of the former Katzenberger concrete plant, today it serves both as an art and culture project, and as a meeting point for people and culture in the neighbourhood. Art, theatre, film, music, dance and festivals will revive this unique location as an art factory and experimentation ground, while bringing people closer to art, sport, recreation and cultural experiences.
That’s why the “concrete playground” has a wide range of sports to offer within its total area of almost 10,000 m2, both outdoors (8,000m2) and indoors (2,000 m2). Included are basketball courts, a ping-pong area, a skatepark, a bouldering wall and a boxing hall. The only thing missing so far was a classic football field.
This was opened at the Sugar Mountain complex by FC Bayern and its partner adidas in the spring: a 30-by-15-metre playing field for street footballers, named the “Sugar Pitch”. With this five-a-side pitch, FC Bayern wants to contribute to popular sport in Munich, says Club CEO Oliver Kahn. Together with local sports and school organisations, it will provide children and young people with opportunities to get together and grow – through training sessions, workshops and motivating events. That’s why, in parallel to opening the football pitch, FC Bayern has launched its overarching project “90 minutes and beyond”, through which the club wants to offer initiatives that extend beyond sport. The slogan of the initiative: “Sport is only the beginning…”
Since environmentally friendly materials were a decisive criterion for FC Bayern, sustainability was high up on the agenda in the design of the football pitch. That’s where Polytan came in. The project developers were convinced by the world’s first carbon-neutral artificial football turf, our LigaTurf Cross GT zero. It combines environmental friendliness with sustainability, without compromising on durability and functional properties, and meets the highest standards, even with frequent use. LigaTurf Cross GT zero is based on sustainable, organic PE raw materials, sourced from non-recyclable sugar cane. The logos of the two partners, FC Bayern and adidas, are integrated in the surface of the turf.
Another plus point, alongside its realistic appearance, perfect playing properties and simple maintenance, is that the sand-filled turf system is completely free from rubber granules.
What’s more, Polytan PolyBase GT is used as an elasticising layer underneath the synthetic turf itself. This brand-new Green Technology development from Polytan combines the proven benefits of the elastic layer, which is installed in-situ, with those of a with a recycled product, including a pioneering new technology for the utilisation of carbon dioxide. Thanks to cardyon® by German polymer manufacturer Covestro, for the first time ever, it is now possible to use CO2 as a raw material in the manufacture of plastics and therefore reduce the consumption of fossil resources, such as petroleum. Cardyon®, which is made of up to 20% natural carbon, is used to bind the rubber granules in our PolyBase GT products, ensuring permanent elasticity. The use of this post-consumer recycled material (ELT) also helps improve the environmental footprint of the “Sugar Pitch”.
For Polytan, the design of the Sugar Pitch is a lighthouse project because it demonstrates that environmentally friendly materials and synthetic turf are not mutually exclusive. In conjunction with recycled materials, we have unlocked the door to a more ecological future for synthetic turf.
