Clevedon school amongst UK's first to recycle plastic pitch

The sand will be removed from the pitch before it is shredded and turned into plastic pellets

A North Somerset school has become one of the first in the UK to recycle its old artificial football pitch.

Instead of going to landfill, Clevedon School's pitch will be turned into plastic pellets for use in a variety of products including school rulers.

Alastair Moore, project manager for Replay, has been working to take up the pitch before a new one is laid.

The method was developed last year and the school is one of the first to have it implemented, he explained.

Head teacher Jim Smith said it was "really important that we take this opportunity" that only comes around every 25 years, to recycle the pitch.

The pitch will be turned into plastic pellets which can be recycled

When the school took the decision to change the pitch "it was really important that we not only got a new facility for the school and the community but also we followed the green agenda", Mr Smith said.

Choosing a firm that had "the ability to recycle it was absolutely crucial", he explained, saying he was "really excited" to become the first school to take up such an opportunity.

Head teacher Jim Smith said that it was "really important" to follow a green agenda

Currently, there is one million square metres of it recycled every year and the hope is that the new process can increase that, Mr Moore said.

He explained that once the pitch is taken up, all the sand is "beaten out of it" and recycled at Replay's base in Hull.

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It is then split down into small shreds of fibre, which then become the plastic pellets used in new products.

The school's pitch is being recycled after 25 years

"This was a process which was developed last year and has been implemented this year," Mr Moore explained.

"We are in one of the very early stages of pitches being recycled in this manner."

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