At first glance you might not see the ‘green’ in NewGrass except for its forever green color and appearance, but look a little deeper. If you’re a homeowner in a water challenged locale like say the Nevada desert or parts of California and still want to have the curb appeal and extra living space of a green lawn or patio, you might consider “going artificial.” NewGrass will eliminate the need for lawn-care, including expensive polluting activities like gas mowing and fertilizing. The stuff is made from renewable and recycled materials (PET plastic from soft drink and water bottles) and is totally recyclable. Comes in four different varieties priced from $3.79 to $5.99 a square foot. NewGrass contractually agrees to remove and recycle the material after it completes its useful life. (more)
The company states that the 90% soy-based backing helps with water distribution and drainage. NewGrass recommends the turf for use in schoolyards, dog runs, home and commercial landscaping projects.
One downside, much like a traditional grass lawn this stuff is a desert for bees and other pollinators, so make sure your gardens have flowering plants …on the upside, the company donates a percentage of each sale to the Carbon Fund. NewGrass has also been accepted as an EPA Greenscapes Alliance Ally.
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Interesting article-
I believe that your web site is committed to publishing truthful and accurate information- and not just advertorials for specific companies- so I thought I would share some information with your readers.
NewGrass is exactly that- it’s new- as in the company is new- formed in 2005- it’s a couple or few investors who set up the name new grass and then order grass from one or more of the small manufacturers in Georgia.
They then have a list of “distributors” who they refer you to who will then have someone come and install it for you- so you are dealing with a chain of three to four separate entities.
The 10 year warranty is from New Grass- two investors – “entrepreneurs” if you will- and as long as they are around and in business, your 10 year warranty should be just fine- and we all know that small partnerships never go out of business! Your $10,000.00 to $20,000.00 (for 1,000 to 2,000 sq. ft.) investment should be just fine! (:-))- Especially when you consider that NewGrass only got the wholesale end of that!
But here are some more important facts- I just interviewed them for you.
First off- they claim that their backing is made fro PET recycled plastic and 90% soybean based product. It is true that their backing is made of recycled plastic- and it may contain BioCel which is an ingredient that contains renewable resources including some made from soy bean oil, but that is hardly unique! SYNLawn is the company that introduced that and it is incorporated in the backing of all of their products.
However, the difference is, that the percentage of the total weight that this NewGrass Backing represents as to the whole product is just a few ounces per sq. yard!
There’s very little recycled content as a percentage of the total weight- and the grass blades themselves are made of the same type of polyethylene plastic that all other similar artificial turf products are made of.
There’s nothing recycled about that at all- zero!
That’s ok- because plastics like that are not high quality when made of recycled materials-but there’s nothing worse in my view than “greenwashing” your product just to make it sound more Green than it is!
Synthetic grass does enough for the environment in terms of water savings, pollution and chemical abatement and reduction of green waste that it doesn’t need to pretend to be made of recycled materials as well! Its carbon energy is bound up for a rather long time and it is then recyclable theoretically.
That’s another point- the 10 year warranty and the “promise” to come take it away are also worthy of closer examination! The parent company that swells the grass to the “distributor” who then farms it out to “installers” to install says they will come pick it up when it is ready to change it.
Well, with high turn over of homes, it’s unlikely that people will know who to call. But more importantly, it would cost in the neighborhood of $500.00 to $1,000.00 to send a crew out to do that and properly dispose of it or transport it to a recycling yard- that’s if there was a recycling yard anywhere in the country that recycled this type of product! This is truly outrageous and dubious promise in my view!
Moreover, because of volume constraints, it would probably cost them money to have the recycler take it, rather than net them money.
The “revolutionary backing” is actually very similar to another flimsy backing is manufactured in my opinion to save money- not to be better than the existing products out there. It is lighter weight and just a flimsy piece of fabric.
It appears to be pretty much the same as X-Grass- which is made in Georgia by a small manufacturer and sold through the same type of network of distributors and contracted installers.
One of the owners of NewGrass said that the face weight of the product doesn’t matter- they’re all the same- so one would wonder why some of his are 48 oz and one is 70- anyone in the synthetic grass industry knows that face weight is extremely important- lower face weight products cost less to make- less material equals less cost- and higher face weight products are better protected from the sun and therefore have a longer warranty.
Strangely, theirs have a 10 year warranty, no matter which product you choose- odd since no yarn manufacturer offers a warranty of more than 7 or 8 years.
The owner claimed that the products would probably last forever- although he claimed that the oldest one he had seen was from 2001.
The reality is that NewGrass is a couple of partners and one says that he used to be in the business of selling and installing artificial football fields. There are countless such companies out there selling fake turf that way through chains of middle men.
There is nothing unique about polyethylene blades filled with infill to make them stand up.
In the case of NewGrass- they say they fill it with 2-3 pounds of either copper or nickel slag- that’s the fine waste of metal particles that is left over from manufacturing things like copper wire and such! Doesn’t sound very environmentally friendly or healthy or safe or easy to blow off or clean!
He also said that SYNLawn products are 100% nylon and earlier in the conversation he said that nylon contains poisonous lead! He asked if I had read the articles. I have- and I have also read the subsequent ones showing that the states and scientists that were involved in that controversy have concluded their tests and found that the nylon fibers are 100% safe- and pose no risk whatsoever to children or anyone else.
What he might not be aware of is the fact that most quality artificial turf fibers contain some amount of completely safe encapsulated lead chromate to protect the fibers from UV exposure and to hold the color. Odd that a product line with a supposed 10 year warranty would not contain that type of quality component!
He also claimed that nylon absorbs liquid and therefore will smell of urine from your dog. This is likewise not true. The level of absorbency of nylon versus polyethylene is a tiny difference that has no practical significance in the use of artificial grass.
The highest quality dog products are made of nylon which is the most durable type of fiber made in the industry.
When you purchase synthetic grass- you should make sure you are purchasing a real product made by a manufacturer and made for quality purposes, not to be cheaper to sell through a series of middle men.
After all, who will you call if the guy who installed it isn’t around, and the guy who hired him goes under, and the middle man who sells it to them goes away because his partnership didn’t work out!
A review of the products on their web site put them in the category or lightweight infill products sold at a high price.
It was curious that there were no offices, warehouses, showrooms, physical buildings for this “network” of “distributors” and “installers”. He said it just wasn’t practical because the industry is just not big enough.
A review of other sites found similar results, however SYNLawn had well over 15 physical and substantial locations nationwide- with warehouses, showrooms, distribution centers, and retails store-s they were also sold in Lowe’s Home improvement stores.
My suspicion is that NewGrass, like other similar companies, is just a couple of guys selling generic style products they buy in Georgia with a lot of promises attached.
They said that the big players in the industry were SYNlawn and Field Turf and that seems to be accurate- with SYNLawn being the big player for landscape and commercial and AstroTurf, Sprint Turf and Field Turf being the big players for sports fields.
If you want to see incredible synthetic grass for landscaping, check out http://www.synlawn.com. For football fields, check out http://www.astroturfusa.com, http://www.fieldtiurf.com, http://www.sprintturf.com.
Also, one other thing- there are many of these “brands” of artificial grass out there- that follow this chain of middle men model- and I have seen many of them- if you go into Costco- there are these pre-cut Pregra rolls that somehow can be seemed together by the homeowner. Good luck with that! And talk about shiny and plastic looking!
There’s a lot of that out there too- Chinese products frequently look like that- or super dark green, and with odd colors or backing materials coated in Latex to save cost instead of polyurethane.
Some companies have recently reverted to an older technology of using cheap plastic coating on the backing also to save the cost of polyurethane coating. The bottom line is, there’s not way to get higher quality from using poorer quality components and processes driven by a desire to save cost not perform to a certain standard!
But the point is, there is a huge difference in the aesthetics of these products- and it is really easy to see who is copying who and knocking off who.
I have seen these products over the years and synlawn is the company that brought the new types of synthetic landscape grasses to the market place. Before Synlawn, there was nothing else out there but the same rubber crumb infilled football field grass that is use don sports fields.
Everything else is a copy, A little research of news articles will make this clear- or you can look up old web sites or advertisements.
Go see grass- if you live in a major city, or near one on the west coast, go see a lot of these products- you will se dramatic differences between the products.
Have it professionally installed if it involves seams and cutting. Do it yourself if it is a tiny side yard with no seams, or for a small deck.
Keep your logic hat on- there is a lot of bad information out there. There is only one company that actually manufacture’s, distributes, installs and warrantees synthetic landscape grass and putting green surfaces and that is Synlawn. They are the biggest manufacturer in the country and they make the highest quality products- over 50 styles.
There are also companies like Field Turf who are very well established in football fields who sell their rubber infill products to home owners through distributors.
Everything else is this chain of middle men type of situation- keep your eyes and ears open when reading their marketing materials and listening to their sales pitches.
The last thing you want to do is be the last guy to give the “installer” end of those operations $10,000.00 before he went out of business or before the whole thing did!
Watch for more on the web- synthetic grass- there’s a lot you need to know!
I am surprised that “grassman” doesn’t admit he is from Synlawn which he clearly is.
Synlawn is infamous for this type of slanderous behavior online; case in point http://theecolife.net/?p=67
Its hardly the way a respectable company does business. But then again who is to say Synlawn is respectable? At least not the Van Nuys group.
I myself do not do business with such slimy people.
First off I would like to thank the Alternative Consumer for posting an article about NewGrass. We are proud of our eco-friendly commitments. We are not out to carpet the world in synthetic grass, rather we strive to provide a solution when water conservation and being environmentally and eco-friendly are as important as having more green lawn to enjoy year-round.
Now, to address our friends at Synlawn. First off, Jason is correct it is common for them to slander their competitors as some form of sleazy sales tactic. We are happy that we now get the chance to debate them in an open forum like here on the Alternative Consumer. First though, we must address some of the non truths they state:
1) No one at our company was interviewed by anyone save for our President who (shameless plug here) was interviewed on Designing Spaces and the Balancing Act which will air on their respected networks in June.
2) None of our investors or partners have ever been in the artificial football field business not that that really matters.
3) And also, if it really matters NewGrass actually has four families as primary investors not two.
Now for their silliness.
NewGrass LLC of Arizona is the company that owns the brand NewGrass and yes we sell NewGrass to a distributor network who then sells it to consumers. This is not an uncommon business model. The best example of it is PepsiCo. PepsiCo owns the brand Pepsi and owns the recipe to the syrup but they don’t bottle Pepsi nor do they sell it to the consumer. Surely Mr. Synlawn doesn’t think this is a questionable business model? I assume he just doesn’t understand the values of it like being able to support a larger independent sales and installation force or the fact that this business model actually protects the consumer better than the Synlawn business model because NewGrass does not have the large overhead costs that typically sink other companies like the first incarnation of Synlawn (yes the Synlawn of today is “Synlawn take two”).
Mr. Synlawn is correct that NewGrass LLC was incorporated in February of 2005 in Arizona but Synlawn was incorporated in the fall of 2003 which makes it only 14 months older but does age really matter here? Actually Synlawn wasn’t incorporated at all the name was/is owned by another company Universal Brand Company. So wait… when you deal with warranty claims in California do you deal with Synlawn of Southern California Inc.? or did they have to change their name because they were being sued for trademark infringement?
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-cacdce/case_no-2:2007cv03387/case_id-389339/ or do you deal with the parent company that was incorporated in Florida? Oh wait I mean Georgia because that Florida company was assumed by Crystal Turf Products in 2006. So much for the comfort of “vertical integration”.
Lets address the vertical integration model for a second shall we? Crystal Turf Products is the company that actually manufactures Synlawn and yes they are one of the bigger manufacturers in the industry and they manufacture synthetic grass for a multitude of other companies besides Synlawn. Crystal Turf Products is owned by the same family that owns Synlawn which is why they think they can make the claim of “vertical integration”. NewGrass LLC has chosen not to be vertically integrated because our experience has proven that only working with one manufacturer can lead to issues of supply. In peak seasons it is common for a manufacturer to be swamped with orders and ultimately the supply is hampered. That is what ultimately doomed “Synlawn take one”. At NewGrass we have numerous manufacturers so we can guarantee delivery of our product in 10 business days or less. You should call Synlawn and ask them for their lead time. You would be surprised at the response.
Now let’s get to the most important discussion; the product itself.
NewGrass offers four varieties of synthetic grass. Mr. Synlawn claims they have 50 varieties, although, I went to their Web site and only counted 22. Regardless, our research shows that consumers feel that excess numbers are nothing more than a confusing distraction. They just want the most realistic looking product available which we believe we offer. Face weight is also nothing more than another distraction according to our customers. The concept of face weight has significance in the carpet industry but not in the synthetic grass industry, maybe Mr. Synlawn has been to Universal Textile Technologies offices one too many times? All that face weight means is how thick is the grass? The thicker it is the less you theoretically need infill to help the blades stand up. However, NewGrass feels infill is an important part of the installation process not only for helping the blades stand up but for ballast. Without infill there is nothing holding your grass in place so you are going to have some movement. NewGrass does not offer “no infill” grasses like Synlawn does as we feel it is not a satisfactory product. According to Synlawn’s own site when they do require infill they use silica sand. NewGrass uses nickel slag for our infill as it is not a toxic substance like silica sand is, according the state of California. Mr. Synlawn suggests that slag “Doesn’t sound very environmentally friendly or healthy or safe or easy to blow off or clean!” But he is mistaken again because it actually is environmentally friendly and far more friendlier then silica sand!
The one thing that Mr. Synlawn suggests that is somewhat disturbing to us is his questioning of the NewGrass recycle pledge. He suggests that because of the cost of the recycling service, which he calculates to be $500-$1000, that our pledge is an “outrageous and dubious promise”. Well Mr. Synlawn, I think this is a good example of the difference between our two companies. At NewGrass our commitment to the environment is first and foremost, we are not greedy money hording capitalists looking to horde every dime. We recognize that it will cost us up to $1000 to recycle NewGrass but we also feel it is our duty to do so for the good of this planet. Instead of simply denouncing the idea Synlawn should “copy NewGrass” and take up a similar pledge.
And so I leave the best for last our “revolutionary backing” as Mr. Synlawn puts it. I find this the most amusing point of all as it shows that he clearly does not know what he is talking about and would rather throw around outrageous claims as if there were no consequences. Well, Mr. Synlawn, our new Envirocell backing is actually a product of Universal Textile Technologies Inc. which is a sister company of Synlawn! Obviously Synlawn does not even use their own sister companies eco-friendly solutions or he would know something about it! A pity because we feel it is a great product and maybe it’s another thing that Synlawn should copy from NewGrass.
I called Sylawn once for a quote and they told me it would be six weeks for the grass to come in! I had not heard of NewGrass at the time otherwise I would have called them.
Apparently Synlawn likes to bully its clients as well as its competition! Check out the saga that Wendy had with Synlawn.
http://valleypooldemo.blogspot.com/
I stumbledupon this page today and thought it was fitting http://www.writersmugs.com/quotes.php?day=415
Once my wife and I moved to the desert, I converted our entire rock yard to artificial grass.
It looks great, saves time and money on maintenance fees.
So, if I’m reading Lou right, then New Grass is not big on Capitalism, they are more interested in making the world a “greener” place. Great ideal, but if I’m investing thousands for a synthetic lawn, I want a company that wants to make money and will be around for a long time. I appreciate your high ideals Lou, but don’t bash capitalism on your way. Remember this is America. Out of curiosity are some of your manufacturers in China? I undestand that there are only a few manufacturers in the US. I want them to make my grass.
Lots of back and forth and politicing!! For what its worth we came across a synthetic sod / synthetic lawn installer (Eco Alliance / Eco Hardscape Systems) close to our home in Ontario, CA. They did a beautiful job. They were courteous, friendly, professional, and prompt. I encourage anyone in the inland empire to check them out. (And their prices were better than the folks from Lowes listed above.) http://www.ecowaterlessgrass.com
Synthetic grass is the way to go….No mowing. No watering. No maintenance time nor money.
We have an artificial grass company in the UK, and we are not out to carpet the world in artificial grass either (as another poster described it). It is a product which is useful for some people who have various issues with having a real lawn, and can be useful in those situations. Outside my office we actually have both real and artificial grass.
artificial grass is great solution for sports,landscape and golf!