Straight answers
Three material routes. No conventional secondary coating. Life cycle assessment as part of product development. Explore the questions behind ONE-DNA™ and the engineering decisions that make it different.
Artificial grass in general
Most artificial grass is a carpet of polymer yarn tufted into a backing, held in place by a secondary coating, and usually finished with an infill such as silica sand. The yarn is normally polyethylene, the backing often polypropylene, and the coating conventionally latex or polyurethane. The combination matters more than any single component, because it determines both how the surface performs and how easily it can be recovered later.
Start with what the surface has to do, not with the specification sheet. Intensity of use, whether there is play equipment, whether the space is indoors, whether there is a fall height requirement and how the site drains will narrow the choice faster than pile height and price. Once the application is clear, the product and the build-up follow.
Constructions differ in which polymers are used, how the carpet is held together and what the system underneath it does. A construction that combines several bonded material families performs well and is harder to separate at end of life. A construction built around one material family, or around compatible materials without a bonded secondary coating, is simpler to identify and recover.
It depends on the product and the application. Sand infill can stabilise the carpet, help it stand up under use and, in some cases, form part of a tested fire classification or a tested fall height build-up. Some products are designed to be used unfilled. Where infill affects a tested result, the result is published with the infill it was tested with.
Service life depends on the product, the intensity of use, the installation and the maintenance, so a single number for the category is not meaningful. Accelerated ageing tests show how material properties hold up under controlled exposure, which is a different question from how long a specific pitch will be fit for purpose. For ONE-DNA™ products, the warranty terms explain what the warranty includes.
About ONE-DNA™
ONE-DNA™ is an artificial grass technology platform for sport, play, landscape and events. Products are engineered around what the application requires, built with FuseTech™ rather than a conventional latex or polyurethane secondary coating, designed with their next material life in mind, and evaluated with life cycle assessment as part of product development.
It means a product is built from one polymer, fibre through to backing, with no second material bonded in. The point of it is recovery: a construction made of one identifiable material is simpler to process at end of life than one that combines several bonded materials. It describes a construction, not an environmental result. It applies to ONE-DNA™ 100% PE and ONE-DNA™ 100% PP, not to ONE-DNA™ 100% PO.
No. There are three material routes. ONE-DNA™ 100% PE and ONE-DNA™ 100% PP each use one polymer in fibre and backing. ONE-DNA™ 100% PO combines polyethylene and polypropylene from the same polyolefin family, so it is not mono-material.
Because applications differ. ONE-DNA™ 100% PE is soft and flexible. ONE-DNA™ 100% PP is firmer and suits functional surfaces. ONE-DNA™ 100% PO combines the softness of PE fibres with the stability of a PP backing. The application decides which route fits, and no route is assumed to have the lower environmental impact.
It is how the carpet is held together. FuseTech™ fixes the yarns into the backing with heat, so ONE-DNA™ needs no conventional latex or polyurethane secondary coating. That is what makes the material route a deliberate choice for each application. Its environmental effect is assessed through life cycle assessment.
Installation and system design
The principles are the same: base preparation, laying, joining and, where specified, infill. What differs depends on the product and the project, so check the installation guidance with us before you plan the work.
It is everything the surface is made of once installed: artificial grass, infill, shockpad where one is used, and the base underneath. Several of the results people ask about, including critical fall height and some sports performance results, belong to the complete build-up rather than to the artificial grass.
Ask us with the product and the project you have in mind. We send the current installation guidance together with the product documentation that applies. Request installation guidance
Performance and testing
The complete tested build-up: the artificial grass, the infill and the shockpad at a stated thickness, tested together to the European standard EN 1177. ONE-DNA™ Play 24 and ONE-DNA™ Vista have been tested this way on shockpads of different thicknesses, so you can choose a build-up for the fall height you need. A figure quoted for a carpet without its build-up does not tell you what a play area will achieve. Ask us for the test reports.
They are reaction-to-fire classifications for floor coverings, tested to the European standard EN 13501-1; they are not Australian classes. Bfl and Cfl describe the behaviour of the surface when exposed to fire, and s1 describes smoke production. The classification belongs to the product in the configuration it was tested in, so the same carpet can carry a different class with and without infill.
That depends on where it is installed and which national building or event regulations apply, particularly indoors and at exhibitions. The requirement comes from the regulation, not from the product. What a supplier can give you is the test report, or where one exists the classification report, for the exact configuration you intend to install.
On the material, to EN 12616, in litres per minute per square metre. ONE-DNA™ artificial grass was tested at 650 l/min/m² or more, and the Technology page shows it in a short video. How a real site drains also depends on falls, base construction and outfall, so plan those with your installer.
Test reports for the evidence families that apply to that product, each stating the product and configuration it covers.
Environmental data
It is a standardised calculation of a product’s environmental impact across its life: raw materials, production, transport, installation, use and end of life. It matters because it replaces assumption with measurement. What it covers depends on the modules included, which is why the scope is always stated with the result.
An environmental product declaration is a verified, published life cycle assessment in a standard format, in Europe to EN 15804+A2. It lets two products be compared on the same basis, provided they declare the same modules and the same functional unit. An EPD is a data sheet, not a quality label.
No. The number of polymers in a construction does not determine environmental impact. Impact is calculated, not inferred, and the calculation depends on raw materials, production, transport, service life and end of life. Material architecture is one input among several.
By treating it as something to engineer rather than something to report. The application requirements come first, then the construction and material architecture that meet them, designed with the next material life in mind. The life cycle impact is then measured, which shows where the impact actually sits and whether changing the architecture, the amount of material, the construction or the process would reduce it. Where the data says a change is worth making, the product changes and is measured again.
The objective is the lowest impact reasonably achievable for that product while it still delivers the performance, durability and installation behaviour its application needs.
Compare declarations rather than adjectives. Check that both cover the same life cycle modules, use the same functional unit and the same service life assumption, and are verified. If any of those differ, the comparison does not hold, however similar the headline number looks.
On the product, with the scope of each document stated.
Recycling and end of life
Technically, much of it can. Whether it actually is depends on the construction, on how cleanly it can be lifted, on contamination from infill and soil, on transport distances and on whether a recycler in that market accepts it. Recyclability is a property of the product. Recycling is an outcome that depends on the chain around it.
It means the construction is engineered so that recovery is possible: deliberate material families, no conventional secondary coating bonded in, a composition a recycler can identify, and material information that travels with the product. It describes design intent. It does not describe a guaranteed outcome.
Yes. Material has been processed in recycling trials, which demonstrates what a processor can do with it under trial conditions. That is a different statement from what happens to a particular field in a particular market, and we keep the two apart.
No. What we can do is engineer the product for recovery, document what the material is, put it through recycling trials and keep improving it, and that is what we do. What happens to a specific surface also depends on how cleanly it is lifted, contamination from infill and soil, separation, logistics, the processors operating in that market and the owner’s decision at the end of use. No manufacturer controls those, and none should claim to.
No. ONE-DNA™ does not operate a take-back program in any market.
Buying and specifying
Through the ONE-DNA™ supplier network rather than directly from us.
Yes. Specification wording, the relevant test reports and the environmental data available for the product can be provided for a named project, including where end of life forms part of the award criteria.
It is the route for professionals who need product data, documentation and ordering information in one place.
STILL HAVE QUESTIONS
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Tell us about your project and what you need to know. Technical, product and specification questions are answered directly, with the relevant data and documentation to support the answer.
WHERE TO BUY
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Where to buy
ONE-DNA™ is supplied and installed by independent companies across Europe, Australia and the United States.
