AGRU America celebrates 10th anniversary of ClosureTurf

AGRU America, the waste industry’s leading manufacturer of structured geomembranes, is celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the first ClosureTurf landfill installation with partner Watershed Geo, a leader in civil engineering and erosion control technologies. To date, ClosureTurf spans approximately 1,500 acres of closure, safely and effectively reducing the environmental and operational impacts of landfills across the United States.

Designed and patented by Watershed Geo, ClosureTurf is an engineered landfill closure system designed to address the environmental and performance failures of traditional vegetated landfill closures. ClosureTurf is comprised of a structured geomembrane, an engineered turf and a specified infill. An AGRU America geomembrane, including Super Gripnet^®, MicroDrain^® or MicroSpike^®, is a key component that provides high friction to the subgrade, effectively seals in waste without allowing infiltration and provides quick drainage of water. AGRU’s extruded, flat die manufacturing process is unique to the U.S. market, delivering the highest and most consistent quality geomembrane for environmental applications that have stringent technical requirements in drainage, asperity heights and shear strengths.

“We have a unique relationship with AGRU,” said Watershed Geo CEO Mike Ayers. “AGRU is not just our supplier but a partner that has been involved in our business from the launch of ClosureTurf. They have supported us by helping to build our national footprint and by continuing to provide us with best-in-class materials.”

Over the last ten years, Watershed Geo has been setting a new standard for landfill closure and erosion control with ClosureTurf, achieving outcomes beyond anything else that exists in the industry today. Some of those include:

• Installs at least twice as fast as traditional vegetated covers
• Has reduced the production of leachate by approximately 100,000,000 gallons on larger projects due to a faster closure timeline
• Saves approximately 550 truck trips (225 round-trips) of soil per acre which prevents land destruction of offsite borrow sources and keeps community roads safe
• Eliminates a two-foot soil layer that can provide more than 80,000 cubic yards of potential air space for a typical 25-acre project
• Reduces the carbon footprint by approximately 80 percent (210,000 kg of CO² per acre) when compared with traditional soil/vegetative covers
• Sites have experienced 90 percent reduction in turbidity resulting in cleaner water
• ClosureTurf has survived multiple weather events with no erosion damage, including a record 500-year rain event in Pensacola, Fla.
• Reduces long-term maintenance activities by more than 90 percent compared to a traditional soil cover

“We are thankful for our partnership with Watershed Geo,” said AGRU America CEO and president, Robert Johnson. “To reach 10 years of proven performance is an exciting milestone, and [ClosureTurf is] by far the most innovative application of our geomembranes in the closure market. We will continue to help push momentum and are prepared for rapid growth with this product.”