Infill Landscape Blog
Subscribe To Email Updates
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and we’ll send updates straight to your inbox
Is Envirofill Worth It? These Tests Show Why The Choice is Clear.
Artificial turf has come a long way from its earliest rug-like prototype in the mid-1960s. So has artificial turf infill.
Not long into synthetic turf’s life, infill was recognized as essential for adding safety, comfort, and playability to turf systems, as well as for keeping turf blades upright and looking fresh. Since then, artificial turf infill options have seen their share of transformations, from the first simple sand products to crumb rubber’s hayday to coated sand infills. But infill’s evolution didn’t end there. Today, thanks to technology that experts at Motz have spent decades evolving and perfecting, Envirofill turf infill is continuing to set the standard for infill innovation.
What makes Enviroll the next-era artificial turf infill option among coated sand infills? To illustrate that, we won’t just tell you — we’ll show you, with the help of a few scientific tests we use to evaluate Envirofill’s quality difference.
What Makes Envirofill the Superior Coated Sand Infill? Is Envirofill Worth It?
If safety, cleanliness, durability, performance, and aesthetics are all on your dream-infill list, Envirofill is absolutely worth it. Envirofill is:
Low maintenance and hyper-durable. Envirofill is made from rounded sand grains coated with a polymer that helps avoid compaction, keeping your turf surface durable and high-performing in all elements and conditions. It comes with a 16-year warranty — more than double the industry standard, which should tell you how long this infill lasts. Not only that, but Envirofill is reusable, meaning it can last you more than one turf lifecycle without any loss to performance. And with minimal maintenance, like no need for irrigation and a limited need for top-offs, that’s years worth of peace of mind.
A clean you can trust, with Microban® antimicrobial protection. Every grain of Envirofill is infused with Microban®, helping to prevent bacterial, mold, and mildew growth. What makes that a big deal? We asked Ross Vocke, Senior Operations Manager at Motz with over a decade of experience in the turf infill industry, to explain.
Ross says that some coated infill brands use “unknown antimicrobials,” adding that “other coated sands on the market don’t call their antimicrobials by brand or name but rather by technology, like ‘zinc based,’ or even just ‘antimicrobial protection.’” Envirofill, meanwhile, is “backed with a globally recognized brand in Microban.” That means you can be doubly sure you’re using one of the cleanest turf infills on the market for athletes, kiddos, and furry family members alike.
Totally non-toxic. Envirofill is safe for people and the planet. Extensive third-party tests have found Envirofill to be non-toxic, non-hazardous, and safe for dogs, cats, and humans of all ages, even exceeding the standards outlined in The American Society for Testing and Materials’ internationally accepted criteria for determining levels of hazardous metal in children’s toys. Envirofill is so safe, in fact, that it’s exempt from California’s stringent Prop 65 labeling requirements.
Envirofill gives you a blend of benefits you just won’t find in other synthetic turf infills. But we don’t want you to take our word for it. We asked Ross to describe the safety and quality testing that goes into making Envirofill, so you can feel extra secure in calling it your clear choice.
How We Evaluate Envirofill: A Quality Difference You Can See
At Motz, we’re laser-focused on guaranteeing Envirofill’s durability and longevity, submitting every batch we produce to a rigorous, multi-step quality assurance test. If it doesn’t pass that test, it doesn’t leave our facility. Ross broke down Envirofill’s QA process like this:
- Curing and moisture tests are performed to ensure all coating is fully cured before bagging.
- Turbidity testing ensures we’ve maintained a clean sand free of impurities.
- Color consistency within specific ranges is checked.
- A sieve analysis is performed on every truckload to ensure the size of each Envirofill particle falls within a specific range.
- Antimicrobial and antifungal quality assurance tests are performed from a third party lab.
- Routine scale certifications are done to ensure appropriate pounds-per-bag, with a <0.25% tolerance.
- Batch information is printed on every individual bag of Envirofill to trace its production back to a specific date and time.
- We perform the shake test.
The what test? Allow us to explain.
What's the Shake Test and Why Do We Use It?
Colored coating helps camouflage your infill and gives your synthetic turf lawn a lush, realistic appearance. But with inferior coated sand infill products, that color can leach off.
Ross says that, usually, the pigments used to coat these products “should be non-toxic and considered ‘safe’ for the intended use,” adding that Envirofill’s materials are “analyzed and safe.” So rather than being a safety risk, the bigger consideration here is “being left with a partially coated sand that loses its color, antimicrobial properties, and durability over time,” he says.
The shake test, Ross explains, is meant to “show the integrity of the coating and highlight any weaknesses or vulnerabilities” in coated sand infill. When shaken with water, inferior infill products will release some of their surface pigmentation — or, their coating polymers — in the water, visibly turning it green. And with the release of that green dye comes a loss of anti-microbial protection and durability.
For Envirofill — shown on the left below— the results of the shake test are telling.
Water paired with Envirofill is the only water to remain totally clear, meaning our coating remains 100% intact. In the event it didn’t, that infill wouldn’t be sold. Ross says:
“We don’t cut corners with quality. When we do anything, whether that be communication, production, or order fulfillment, we don’t take shortcuts, and we ensure quality throughout every process and product. Ninety-five percent is not good enough.”
You can watch the results of the Envirofill shake test — and see how competitor products stack up — below.
How Else Do We Test Envirofill Artificial Turf Infill?
In case you can’t tell, we’re hyper-focused on ensuring and backing the quality of Envirofill. We want you to feel as confident believing in Envirofill’s capabilities as we do — so, we took it upon ourselves to perform a one-year test of Envirofill vs. two other coated sand infills.
Below, you can see Envirofill’s coating doesn’t only hold up to the shake test. After submerging Envirofill and two other coated sand infills in water for 12 months, you can see for yourself how Envirofill’s coating reliably stood the test of time.
But we didn’t stop there.
One major benefit of Envirofill is its odor-prevention capabilities, including for pet odors. That’s thanks to the Microban® antimicrobial protection we talked about earlier; non-toxic and heavy-metal free, Microban® is infused into every grain of Envirofill during manufacturing to inhibit bacteria and other microbes responsible for stains, odors, and product deterioration.
The end result: Envirofill with Microban® helps reduce urine ammonia odors by up to 99%, and you can rely on it to continuously do that. How do we know this? In addition to our own analyses at Motz, we submitted Envirofill for third-party testing alongside two other popular coated sand products. Using a durability test called Micro-Deval, researchers were able to measure how all three products’ odor prevention properties held up over time.
Once again, the results were clear — Envirofill was the only product not to show any presence of odor-causing ammonia.
WHAT'S IN YOUR TURF MATTERS®
When it comes to what’s in your turf, the choice is clear. Choose Envirofill for a safer, more durable, and higher-performing product. We’re committed to providing our customers with the best products and support possible, and we’re confident that Envirofill is the best choice for your synthetic turf system.
Similar Blogs
