Advanced Sports Installations was awarded as an Environment-Friendly Enterprise of the Year
Advanced Sports Installations, one of the leading companies in Europe specialising in the installation, maintenance, renovation and recycling of artificial turf, won main prize in the competition Environment-Friendly Enterprise of the Year in Estonia.
Advanced Sports Installations Europe AS (ASIE) was announced general winner in the competition Environment-Friendly Enterprise of the Year in Estonia for developing the world’s unique ARENA Concept, an innovative zero-waste method for reusing artificial turf on site in just 7 days. Company also received the most e-ballots during public voting in its category. At the official ceremony on the evening of January 25, the Award was given to Raul Lättemägi, the ARENA Concept owner, by Minister of the Environment Siim Kiisler.
Raul Lättemägi, Owner of Advanced Sports Installations Europe (ASIE) would sincerely like to thank jury of the competition and everybody who voted for the company during public voting. “As a socially and environmental responsible company, we place strong emphasis on sustainability, as replacing artificial turf installed on football pitches generates 600,000 tonnes of mixed waste consisting of rubber, sand, and plastic each year in the European Union. By 2030, this volume of waste will increase 5 times, leading to over 3 million tonnes. Our ARENA Concept enables us to separate different components of the removed artificial turf so that it can be reused on training pitches and/or school grounds, thereby avoiding the generation of millions of tonnes of mixed waste every year,” said Lättemägi.
According to Lättemägi, the advantage of the ARENA technology is that almost 100% of the infill could be recovered from the football pitch. “As the entire replacement process is performed on the football pitch and given the minimal need for transport, CO2 emissions are several times less. We can reinstall most of the removed turf covering on training pitches or football grounds of schools, for example, which is less costly and is also significantly more sustainable when compared to other operators. The last stage of circular economy is the artificial turf recycling plant, which turns unusable, badly worn artificial turf into plastic granules, which are a valuable raw material for the plastics industry,” he explained.
ASIE has twice received innovation support from EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 to develop the world’s unique ARENA Concept, an innovative zero-waste method for reusing artificial turf on site and working prototypes of its machinery.
The competition Environment-Friendly Enterprise of the Year is organized every year to determine the environment-friendly enterprises that have taken actions with a positive influence on the environment. Through acknowledging the winners other companies, organizations and private persons are inspired to use similar nature-friendly solutions.
Advanced Sports Installations Europe AS is one of the pioneering companies in Europe specialising in the installation -, maintenance, renovation and recycling of artificial turf. The company, founded in 1992, is based 100% on Estonian capital and has built over 1100 football pitches in Scandinavia, Great Britain, and Central Europe. ASIE installs around million square metres of artificial turf annually, while the company’s goal is to reach the benchmark of 4.5 million square metres in 2020. Advanced Sports Installations is known as the only company offering an operating lease for artificial turf sports fields in Europe.
ASIE is member of the European Synthetic Turf Organisation (ESTO) with approximately 70 members across Europe and the Synthetic Turf Counsel, the world’s largest organization of the synthetic turf industry, representing over 200 companies with operations in over ten countries. In 2017 company was recognized with the bronze quality level of Responsible Business, which acknowledges businesses who care about the impact of their activities on society and who make efforts to reduce negative and increase positive impact.
More information about ASIE: www.sportsinstallations.com
Photos taken at the official ceremony on the evening of January 25: https://goo.gl/W7eeU3
Photographer: Joonas Sisask
Photos about implementation of the ARENA Concept https://goo.gl/QsJujf