Brock International became the first company in the industry to have a Cradle to Cradle Certified product. Recognized as the most comprehensive, rigorous environmental certification process, the designation is administered by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, which evaluates products and materials for their impact on human health and environmental health and design for future life cycles.
“Our mission is to engineer the best, safest and most sustainable playing fields in the world for all levels of athletes,” said Dan Sawyer, Chief Executive Officer of Brock. “For us, sustainability is not just a concept but a commitment. It is an honor to receive this recognition for our positive environmental impact.”
Brock was awarded the Cradle to Cradle Certified Silver Designation for its PowerBase product. The company worked closely with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) to collect data throughout the supply chain, assess all materials for impact to human and environmental health, and evaluate manufacturing processes for use of renewable energy, water stewardship, and social responsibility. MBDC is a global consultancy and certification firm that helps clients create a positive footprint on the planet by implementing the Cradle to Cradle® design framework.
Environmental stewardship is a core value for Brock, who has lead the synthetic turf industry in sustainability since the company’s inception. Offering the only product in the market that can be closed loop recycled, the company’s technologies reduce overall energy cost of constructing a field by 50%. Made in an ISO and TS certified manufacturing facility of 100% recyclable and non-toxic material, Brock PowerBase is certified to the world’s most stringent environmental standards.
Brock PowerBase is manufactured into an interlocking panel system with the highest quality, food grade 100% pure polypropylene, known for its longevity and environmental safety. The panels can be easily removed, cleaned and begin their next life as a quality, durable material with minimal use of additional energy or waste. Alternatively, as a pure mono-component material, the panels can be easily recycled and remade into new Brock panels, eliminating the demand for new fossil fuels for this use. Unlike many industrial hybrid materials used by others, which include a mixture of components that are difficult or impossible to be salvaged after their current life, Brock PowerBase is a pure non-toxic product that can be used over and over again.
The Cradle to Cradle Certified CM program is a multi-attribute eco-label that assesses a product’s safety to humans and the environment and design for future life cycles. The program provides guidelines to help businesses like Brock implement the Cradle to Cradle framework, which focuses on using safe materials that can be disassembled and recycled as technical nutrients or composted as biological nutrients. Unlike single-attribute eco-labels, MBDC’s certification program takes a comprehensive approach to evaluating the design of a product and the practices employed in manufacturing the product. The materials and manufacturing practices of each product are assessed in five categories: Material Health, Material Reutilization, Renewable Energy Use, Water Stewardship, and Social Responsibility.