Tomorrowland, one of the world’s best-known music festivals, continually explores new approaches to material management across its event operations. As part of this effort, the festival worked with Proxy Fields and ONE-DNA™ to introduce ONE-DNA™ artificial grass for selected areas of the festival grounds.
A new approach to artificial grass
Artificial grass is used throughout the Tomorrowland site to create functional and visually appealing spaces for visitors. In 2023, Tomorrowland launched a pilot project using ONE-DNA™ artificial grass, a mono-material product designed primarily from polyethylene (PE).
The project allowed the festival and its partners to evaluate both product performance during the event and potential material processing options after use.
Collaboration across the supply chain
The pilot was realised through cooperation between Tomorrowland, Proxy Fields, ONE-DNA™, GBN AGR and TenCate. Following the event, the installed ONE-DNA™ artificial grass was collected separately from conventional artificial grass materials. This enabled the partners to investigate dedicated processing routes for the recovered material.
Material processing after use
After collection, the material was processed by GBN AGR into PE agglomerate. This processed material was subsequently supplied to TenCate for evaluation and use in new polyethylene-based applications.
The project provided valuable practical experience regarding collection, sorting and processing procedures for mono-material artificial grass products after use.
Learning through collaboration
The Tomorrowland pilot demonstrates how cooperation between event organisers, installers, processors and manufacturers can help explore new approaches to material management.
By bringing together expertise from across the value chain, the project created an opportunity to test collection and processing systems under real-world conditions and gather insights for future developments.
Looking ahead
The collaboration between Tomorrowland, Proxy Fields, ONE-DNA™, GBN AGR and TenCate highlights the importance of practical pilots in understanding how materials can be managed after use.
Projects such as this contribute valuable experience and help inform future decisions regarding product design, collection systems and material processing within the artificial grass sector.
Read how the material was collected and processed after the festival.
Related: Events · Sustainability
