Archive for the 'Artificial Grass' Category

Fake Grass Costs for the San Francisco Bay Area

Published on January 27, 2012 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, Bay Area Fake Grass, Fake Grass and bay area artificial lawn. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .
There are certain recurring investments every home owner is faced with over time which come at considerable expense. The average cost of reroofing a 2000 square foot home in the Bay Area cost about $15,000. A new fence in the same area averages around $8000. These two examples have a 15 to 20 year lifespan if done correctly.
Another recurring expense which is incremental in nature but just as expensive over time is lawn care.
The initial expense of installing a 500 square foot sod lawn with a sprinkler system costs around $2000. If the home owner is planning to maintain the lawn themselves, add $300 for lawn care equipment.
The annual cost of maintaining this same lawn is a little more difficult to narrow down because it really depends on the home owner’s lawn care regimen. The high end would include a gardener, fertilizers and pesticides, reseeding and watering. The low end for the eco-minded do-it-yourselfer would include just watering, reseeding and fuel for the lawn care equipment. The average of these two approaches would amount to roughly $800 a year. Over a 20 year span, this would equal $16,000.
An interesting alternative to sod lawns are fake lawns.
The average cost of having a 500 square foot artificial lawn installed in the San Francisco Bay Area is going to be around $7500. The life span of synthetic grass is 20 years.
The beauty of this investment, (unlike a new roof or a new fence), is that it pays for itself in seven to ten years and saves the home owner a considerable amount of money over its lifespan. It looks natural and lush all year round and is 100% maintenance free.
If you are thinking about fake grass as an alternative to a sod lawn, you should have a representative of The Good Nature Company come to your home for a free consultation and show you the most natural looking artificial grass available in the Bay Area today: onelawn®.
For more information, go to their website at www.onelawn.com or call their toll free number at 1-877-66 1lawn (5296).

Real Lawns or Fake Lawns in San Francisco?

Published on January 19, 2012 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, Bay Area Fake Grass, Fake Grass and bay area artificial lawn. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

In their pursuit of a ‘greener’ approach to outdoor living products, many San Francisco environmentalists ask the question: which is more eco-friendly: real lawns or fake lawns?

It is impossible to truly know the answer to this question without knowing what lawn care regimen the home owner is likely to follow. If their gardening program involves some combination of fertilizers, pesticides, power tools, undisciplined automated irrigation (almost everyone over-waters their lawn) and hired gardeners, then fake grass is the hands down winner. If the home owner is diligent about their gardening routine with an eye out for the environment, then real grass may be better.

Most of the environmental drawbacks of sod lawns are fairly obvious. First and foremost, they need water to stay healthy… a lot of water! The average American lawn, (about 500 square feet), consumes 22,600 gallons of water a year. Lawns planted in the sandy soil areas of San Francisco drain very quickly and are even more wasteful.

Gas-powered lawn care equipment is more than just noisy and smelly. According to a study conducted by Sweden’s Stockholm University in 2001, an hour’s worth of mowing resulted in the same amount of emissions as driving the average car for 93 miles. If that mower is transported to the site by a gardener, the numbers go up. Tack on leaf-blowers and power-edgers and the emission picture gets even bleaker, especially when considering the staggering number of lawns across the country. The EPA estimates that 17 million gallons of fuel are spilled each year just filling lawn equipment. That is more than the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez.

Another strike against a real lawn is that it is frequently fed with fertilizers to keep it lush and green, most of which is synthetic. American home owners use approximately 3 million tons of synthetic fertilizers every year. It takes a barrel of oil to create 560 pounds of such fertilizer, so the national cost of keeping lawns green amounts to 11.8 million barrels of crude oil annually. We also use more than 70 million pounds of herbicides and pesticides on our lawns every year. According to an extensive report published by the EPA titled ‘Sustainable Landscaping’, 40-60% of these chemicals find their way into our local water systems.
A more insidious issue inherit in lawn maintenance is the grass clippings. Millions of people nationwide roll their green bins out to the curb week after week …it’s like magic! The contents disappear! The EPA estimates that at least one-third of all landfill material is yard waste. Once buried and deprived of sunlight and oxygen, grass clippings undergo an anaerobic breakdown which produces methane gas, a greenhouse gas and major contributing factor to global warming. Landfills are the third largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States.

On the positive side, lawns do act as carbon sinks. Satellite photos show that the United States is covered with 40 million acres of lawns. These lawns consume 13.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually. This does help off-set the amount of energy that goes into lawn care, (a multi-billion dollar industry), but not completely.

Fake lawns do not require watering, mowing or fertilizing to look green and lush all year long. Their biggest environmental infraction is in the manufacturing. The backbone of fake grass consists of polymers, which is a petroleum base product that requires a great deal of energy to make. There are a few manufacturers that make a completely recyclable product, but not enough, so it is likely that most artificial turf will end up as landfill.

So what is the carbon footprint of an artificial lawn? The most intensive study to date was conducted by a group of guilt ridden Canadians at the Athena Institute who decided to replace the school’s playing field with artificial turf. They concluded that their 96,840 square foot athletic field could be made carbon neutral by planting 1,861trees and maintaining them for a decade. Given that the average lawn is around 500 square feet; their study infers that the carbon offset for the average synthetic lawn could be made carbon neutral by planting and maintaining ten trees for ten years.

There is also the concern about fake grass using rubber infill, crumbs of recycled tires that are distributed between the blades of grass for support. The fear is that crumb rubber off-gasses and that the resulting fumes can create respiratory health issues. Industry experts claim that there is no environmental hazard to this practice although they do admit that crumb rubber does tend to migrate where it is not wanted, being carried by shoes, pet paws, water and wind.

The bottom line is that whatever lane you choose, real lawn or fake lawn, you should commit yourself to making environmentally sound choices along the way. Real lawns need to be managed responsibly. If you decide to go the faux route and you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, the most environmentally responsible artificial lawn company in the area is The Good Nature Company and their fake grass: onelawn®.

Onelawn® requires no crumb rubber infill. It is guaranteed to last 20 years and it is the only fake grass available in the bay area that is 100% recyclable. To insure a carbon neutral footprint for their business, The Good Nature Company partners with Trees For The Future in planting one hundred trees worldwide for every one lawn they install.

The Good Nature Company can be reached by calling 1-877-66 1-LAWN (5296) or go to their website: www.onelawn.com

Artificial Grass for Dogs in the San Francisco Bay Area

Published on February 28, 2011 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Grass for Dogs, Artificial Lawn, artificial lawns for dogs and bay area artificial lawn. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

I received a call from a San Francisco Bay Area artificial lawn owner the other day. She had just watched our television show on the KRON Bay Area Bargains – The Green Edition: onelawn.

She lives in the San Jose area and has two dogs. Her dogs had trashed her sod lawn and as a result, they had been tracking dirt and mud into the house so she installed a fake lawn for her dogs as a solution to her problem. Unfortunately, the synthetic grass that she had installed for her dogs required infill (a combination of sand and black crumb rubber – a product made from old car tires). The infill was getting into her pet’s paws and was being tracked into the house. Furthermore, the infill made cleaning up after the dogs in the yard nearly impossible.

During the show she had learned that our product onelawn® required no infill and she wondered how that was possible. I explained that artificial grass for dogs did not necessarily need infill. Infill is only required if the blades do not have enough support to keep them standing up straight. The onelawn® artificial grass has more blades per square inch, it is extra thick and it has an added thatch layer below the blades, all of which combine to make it the perfect no-fill artificial lawn. And because it has no infill, cleaning up after the dogs is easy: you just scoop the mess up and then hose the area down. NO MUD and the synthetic grass drains at a rate of 4” an hour so it dries very quickly. No more muddy paws and wet feet!

If you are living in the San Francisco Bay Area and you are considering getting an artificial grass lawn for your dogs, please contact the professionals at The Good Nature Company. We have the best synthetic grass for dogs and the best service in the area. Visit our website at www.onelawn.com or call us at our toll free phone number 1-877-66-1LAWN (5296).

Artificial Grass Provides Health Benefits to Bay Area Residents

Published on February 4, 2011 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, Healthy Lawns, San Jose Artificial Lawn, San Jose Synthetic Grass and bay area artificial lawn. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .
There may be a new meaning to the phrase “healthy lawn.” Artificial lawns are great for saving  time and costs in terms of maintenance, but recent research could also prove that they are better for your health.  Could it be that Bay Area  and San Jose synthetic lawn owners are healthier on average?  Well, consider this: it has been found that people who spend time maintaining their traditional sod lawns are putting themselves at risk. Certain lawn chemicals and fertilizers as well as the toxins from gasoline fumes and spills have been linked to significant health defects.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, which tested 9,000 individuals for research, the average person harbored 13 different types of pesticide in their bodies. While the presence of pesticides does not necessarily mean that a person will become sick, scientists universally promote alternatives to pesticides in order to minimize the possibility of health risks.
“While the government develops separate safety levels for each chemical, the Center for Disease most recent study shows that we are exposed to multiple chemicals simultaneously,” Dr Margaret Reeves of the Pesticide Action Network told Men’s Health Magazine. “The synergistic effects of multiple exposures are not known, but research suggests that even at very low levels, the combination of these chemicals can be harmful to your health”.
Eco-Conscious Bay Area homeowners can’t help notice their local gardening department shelves stacked with products that promise to cut down on invasive pests and weeds. Clearly they are not good for the environment and they can’t be good for you either.
Another less talked about risk is that the ingredients marked on the outside of the bottle combined with that of other products can produce unforeseen reactions. Another thing that they don’t mention on the warning labels is that such substances can remain in your body for several years.
For Bay Area homeowners, artificial lawns have often been a conscious choice for their individual health but also a choice for a healthier environment.  Not only does an artificial lawn require little to no ongoing maintenance, but it can also help keep your body in better condition by avoiding exposure to hazardous substances like those that are routinely applied to sod lawns.
By installing an estate quality artificial lawn you can reduce your risk of exposure to any potential negative effects of chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers and gasoline .  A synthetic lawn also helps you avoid the lawn maintenance chemicals associated with a variety of health risks.
If you live in the Bay Area or San Jose, contact the people you can trust at The Good Nature Company and set up an appointment for a free home consultation. For more information, go to their website at www.onelawn.com or call their toll free number at 1-877-66 1-LAWN (5296).

Artificial Lawn Installation Guide

Published on May 11, 2010 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, bay area, bay area artificial lawn, guide, lawn installation guide and synthetic grass. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Cross-section

Are you researching the possibility of installing an artificial lawn for your home? Do the different companies and the artificial grass that they offer seem to all be about the same? Perhaps one of the biggest differences is what you CAN’T see, and that is what’s hidden beneath the blades.  This is the definitive guide to how an artificial lawn is installed – from start to finish with details on what should be best practice, and what you should watch out for.

First, make sure to take the time to investigate each company’s specific installation methods. Synthetic lawns should last 15 to 20 years. It is important that the installation process and materials are of the highest quality. There are good ways to go about installing an artificial lawn and there is the best way to go about the job. You need to know the difference.

Here are the procedures for installing an artificial lawn.

1. Excavation: Standard procedure in the industry for installing a residential artificial lawn is to first excavate the area to a depth of 3 ½ to 4 inches. If there is an existing irrigation system, most companies will cap it off or redirect your water for free. Removing the soil should also be part of the installation cost. If you do not need any excavation, a per square foot price reduction should apply.

2. Bender Board Installation: The best bender board is made entirely from recycled products. It is waterproof and won’t crack, rot or chip. It should measure 3 ½ by 1½, not 3 ½ by ¾. The best method of installation is to install the plastic bender board around the entire perimeter. This provides a secure edge for the installers to staple the grass to. They should use galvanized staples placed at three inch intervals.

Some companies will only put bender board where there are no existing concrete borders, such as the soft landscape areas that border flower beds. Unfortunately, this does not guarantee that tripping hazards will not develop over time or that critters will not lift up or burrow under the edges that are without bender board. This short-cut may save their company time and money but it is not best practice.

Some installers will use wooden stakes to secure the bender board in place. This is fine when the bender board is up against concrete boarders such as sidewalks and driveways because ultimately it will be pinned in place between the compacted substrate and existing concrete, but remember this: wood rots. Make sure that the installers use plastic stakes, not wooden stakes, out in the soft landscape areas, otherwise, the wooden stakes will rot over time and the bender board may capsize, ruining your lawn.

Most companies guarantee their installation for five years. It may take five years plus for the wooden stakes to rot and you could end up paying for the repairs yourself. Again, the bender board and stakes should be part of the installation cost.

3. Substrate Installation: Crushed granite will be brought in and raked out and compacted to 100% compaction. This provides excellent drainage for your lawn. The crushed granite should be installed in such a way that there is a slight crown in the middle which insures proper water run-off. Some companies use two inches or more of base rock and top it off with decomposed granite. This is how pathways in parks are constructed.

The problem with this method is that the decomposed granite gets harder and harder over time and also, it continues to decompose. Synthetic grass installed over decomposed granite feels like a carpet lying on pavement. The crushed granite remains firm but never hardens, which results in a more natural feel. Crushed granite is more expensive, which is why so few companies use it.

4. The Turf: First, a little information about the grass itself. Artificial lawns are basically large carpeted areas. In fact, there are only seven manufacturers of synthetic lawns in the United States and six of them are located in Dalton, Georgia, (the carpet capital of the United States).

The synthetic grass comes in 15’ rolls and has a variety of backings. The best backing is made from polyolefin. It is also know as Duroflo. It has a number of advantages over the more commonly used urethane backings: it is completely permeable throughout, rather than relying on holes punched into the backing for drainage, which can become clogged. It also functions as a weed barrier, which the hole punch variety can not guarantee. Finally, the backing and grass fibers are 100% recyclable. Synthetic turf using urethane backings are not.

5. Artificial Lawn Installation: The installers will roll out the artificial lawn and install it with some of the same tools that a carpet layer uses. They will custom cut and fit the lawn to the designated areas as they go using carpet knifes and carpet kickers. The perimeter will be stapled in place with pneumatic staple guns and galvanized staples. The area in the middle, known as the field, will be anchored in place with six inch galvanized foundation spikes placed at one foot centers. Think of these as really big nails.

Some companies use u-shaped ground hooks to anchor the grass down. These wire u-hooks are most commonly used to hold drip system tubing in place. They are easy to put in but unfortunately they also come out easily. They are very thin and they are not galvanized so consequently they will rust away over time. They will not last for the lifetime of your lawn.  Companies use them because they cost about three cents a piece which is about ten percent of the cost of the foundation spikes.

6. Blooming: Once the lawn is in place, the installers will use power brooms to ‘bloom’ the fibers to get them to stand up straight. If you have purchased a no-fill product, this is the final step. If not, the installers will fill in between the blades with sand and a top coat of rubber granules made from recycled tires.

A word about infill: it can be messy. It gets in your shoes and if you have kids, it will get in their shoes and clothes. If you have any pets, it will get into their paws. Water and wind move it around. It migrates. The reason no-fill products don’t need fill is because they have more blades per square inch and they also have an additional thatch layer which lives between the backing and about half way up the length of the blades. Think of it as the distinction between fine linen and regular bedsheets where the stitching per square inch makes the all difference.

Once your lawn is installed, the only tools you will need to maintain it is a nylon rake, which the synthetic grass company should provide, and perhaps a leaf blower.

If you happen to live in the San Francisco Bay Area and would like to speak to someone about installing an artificial lawn, feel free to call the professionals at onelawn. They will happily walk you through the process of installing an artificial lawn whether you buy from their or not. They can be reached at 1-877-661-5296 or one through the contact form on site.

TEN REASONS WHY BAY AREA ARTIFICIAL GRASS IS ‘GREENER’ THAN A SOD LAWN

Published on March 26, 2010 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, Green, bay area and synthetic grass. 0 Comments

The San Francisco Bay Area has always been at the forefront of  the ‘green’ movement.  Looking to preserve and conserve, more and more concerned residents are turning to artificial grass as a green alternative to “natural” sod lawns.

Natural lawns are anything but natural. Because they are not indigenous, they need an inordinate amount of watering, fertilizing, pesticides and maintenance to keep looking decent. This national preoccupation with maintaining a beautiful green lawn has resulted in some very serious environmental consequences.

Now that spring truly has arrived it is time to consider a kinder approach to residential lawns. Here are ten very good reasons why an artificial lawn is a greener alternative then a traditional sod lawn.

1.    GAS CONSUMPTION – Each weekend, roughly 54 million Americans mow their lawns! This results in the use of over 800 million gallons of gas per year.

2.    GAS SPILLED – According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 17 million gallons of gasoline are spilled all across America filling up lawn care equipment!  Just to give this fact some perspective: the Exxon Valdez oil spill is considered one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters of all time. That vessel spilled 10.8 million of gallons of crude oil, or 37% less than the gardeners of America spill each year. These spills result in a huge volume of emissions of hazardous air pollutants like nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide, and volatile organic compounds, like carbon monoxide. They also contribute to soil and water contamination.

3.    AIR POLLUTION – Lawn care engines, which have had unregulated emissions until very recently, emit high levels of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, producing 5% of the nation’s air pollution and 10% or more in metropolitan areas.  The  EPA also states: a single traditional gas powered lawn mower produces as much air pollution as 43 new cars each being driven 12,000 miles. That works out to be the equivalent of an additional 2,322 million pollution producing automobiles on the road every week-end.

4.    GRASS CLIPPINGS CREATE METHANE GAS – Grass clippings contribute to global warming by creating methane gas. Here’s how:  in a densely packed covered landfill, grass clippings don’t have access to the elements, especially oxygen, that help them break down. With the absence of air, sun and rain, grass clippings decompose and create methane, a potent greenhouse gas 21 times more effective at trapping radiant heat than carbon dioxide. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the number-one source of human-caused methane emissions to the atmosphere is buried waste. In fact, landfills contribute 10% of the gases that are warming the globe. This is the reason that over half of the landfills across America do not accept grass clippings.

5.    PESTICIDES – Everyone knows that pesticides are bad for the environment. An estimated 70 million pounds of pesticides are applied to lawns in the U.S.A. every year – ten times more per acre than are applied to agricultural crops.

6.    FERTILIZERS – Keeping the grass green is anything but ‘green’.  40%-60% of the nitrogen fertilizer applied to sod lawns end up in surface and groundwater, contaminating and compromising the ecological health of our rivers, lakes, ponds and coastal waters.

7.    WATER USAGE – Did you know that landscaping accounts for almost 70% of the water Californians use at their homes?  In fact, a small lawn of only 1,000 square feet uses an average of 55,000 gallons of water each year.

8.    MOWER INJURIES – According to a report carried out over a period of 5 years in the USA, well over 60,000 Americans were admitted to hospital emergency rooms because of lawn mower accidents. The most common injuries were cuts and bruises but there were cases of bone fractures, limb amputations and even a number of deaths. Admittedly, the ride-on type of lawn mower was a contributor to the more serious types of accidents, however, power mowers and even push mowers were responsible for the lion share of injuries.

9.    LABOR – US citizens will spend three billions hours working on their taxes, whether they like it or not. Coincidentally, that is roughly the same amount of time they will be voluntarily spending maintaining their lawns! The hidden cost to the environment is the impact that the lawn care industry has on the environment: trips to the store, trucks on the road delivering goods, gardeners on the road servicing homes, factories mass producing lawn care products, super-freighters carrying imports, the list is long.

10.    HEALTH CARE – Sod grass contains microorganisms, pesticides, and herbicides which can harm pets and kids. Many people are allergic to grass as well.  There are no such issues with artificial grass.

If you happen to be living in the San Francisco Bay Area and are interested in an artificial grass synthetic lawn, please contact us here at onelawn™. We are committed in our pursuit of environmental best business practices. We are partners with Trees for the Future in planting one hundred trees worldwide for every one lawn we install. Please contact us at 1-877-661-5296 or visit our website at www.onelawn.com.

Lawnmowers vs Artificial Grass

Published on March 20, 2010 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, Green and bay area. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

So this is the last of the lawn-mowers bashing series. Maybe.

Lawn-mowers are such an easy target to dis…and now that the weather is warming up and people are wheeling out their mowers across the country, well, you have to wonder why the vast majority of these people are completely unaware of just how damaging that age-old weekly American tradition is. Here is one theory: who is going to blow the whistle on the majority?  As Pogo use to say:  “we have seen the enemy and it is us”.  We have all been members of the lawn-mower majority at one time or another.

Here is a more popular theory: the motors seem so small and the gas tanks seem even smaller! How bad can it be? It’s the sheer volume that gets over-looked. Even broken down by the week, the numbers are staggering.

Each weekend, roughly 54 MILLION Americans mow their lawns! This results in the use of over 800 MILLION gallons of gas per year while producing tons and tons of air pollutants. Lawn care engines, which have had unregulated emissions until very recently, emit high levels of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, producing 5% of the nation’s air pollution and even more in metropolitan areas. These figures can be found on the EPA’s website.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also states: a single traditional gas powered lawn mower produces as much air pollution as 43 new cars each being driven 12,000 miles.

Wow, that’s impressive. Let’s see… 54 million x 43… that works out to be the equivalent of an additional 2,322 million pollution producing automobiles on the road every week-end. Hey, get a push mower, will ya? Or better yet relax, reclaim your lost weekends and get a carefree, water-free and 100% recyclable artificial lawn installed.

If you happen to be in the San Francisco Bay Area, onelawn should be your first choice in synthetic grass. Not only does onelawn and The Good Nature Company have a beautiful artificial grass product, their sur-stay installation method is a superior engineered system. Check them out at www.onelawn.com

Artificial Grass = No Mower Gasoline Spills

Published on March 12, 2010 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, Green and bay area. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

American homeowners and their helpers are just plain clumsy. That’s right, I said it. Clumsy.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, American homeowners spill 17 million gallons of gasoline annually in their bungling, fumbling attempts to add fuel to lawn and garden equipment.

17 MILLION GALLONS of gasoline spilled all across America! Why isn’t this phenomena  making national headlines?

Just to give this fact some perspective, imagine this: The Exxon Valdez oil spill is considered one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters of all time. That vessel spilled 10.8 million of gallons of crude oil, or 37% less than the gardeners of America spill each year.

These spills result in a huge volume of emissions of hazardous air pollutants like nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide, and volatile organic compounds, like carbon monoxide. They also contribute to soil and water contamination.

So how can the gardeners of America go green and still enjoy lawns that have the look and feel of a sod lawn? The answer is to install artificial grass.

For those homeowners who live in The San Francisco Bay Area,  onelawn™, a line of estate-quality synthetic grass developed and installed by The Good Nature Company,  is  the most realistic and affordable artificial lawn available. Contact onelawn™ for a free, no obligation in-home consultation today.

Artificial Grass: No Mow Grass Clippings!

Published on March 9, 2010 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, Green, Uncategorized and bay area. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

My last entry described the very real possibility of injuries resulting from the use of lawn mowers. A few people thought the odds were with them on that one. Fair enough. Next time you hear your fence getting whacked by a rock picked up by your lawn mower blade, you might want to think about those odds again…however, today I want to cover a sure thing and that is grass clippings.

Those little green clippings seem innocent enough, and you’d think they’d just break down nicely like the table scraps in your backyard composter, but grass clippings dumped in landfill actually contribute greatly to global warming.

The reason grass clippings contribute to global warming is that in a densely packed covered landfill they don’t have access to the elements -especially oxygen- that help them break down in an aerobic process (unlike a well-functioning compost pile). With the absence of air, sun and rain, grass clippings decompose anaerobically (without oxygen) and create methane, a potent greenhouse gas 21 times more effective at trapping radiant heat than carbon dioxide. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the number-one source of human-caused methane emissions to the atmosphere is buried waste. In fact, landfills contribute 10% of the gases that are warming the globe.

For this reason, many countries around the world and approximately half of all of the landfills in the U.S. have made it illegal to landfill grass clippings. Additionally, grass clippings rot in the landfills, introducing pesticides and fertilizers as well as creating leachate which ultimately contaminates our community drinking water supplies.

The average lawn produces clippings at a rate of about 7.25 pounds per square foot each year. The average lawn measures approximately 650 square feet, resulting in a total of 4700 pounds or 2.35 TONS of clippings a year per lawn! That’s just a single lawn, folks.  Last year Americans threw away a stunning 31 MILLION tons of grass clippings. Is there a “greener” grass out there?

If you want the look of a sod lawn but want an eco-friendly alternative, you should consider a product like Onelawn, an artificial grass that is 100% recyclable and will last 15 to 20 years. That’s 15 to 20 years of NO CLIPPINGS, which means no landfill, no methane gas and no water pollution. And did I mention no more mowing? Save your back and help save the planet.  Install a synthetic lawn today! If you are interested in the San Francisco Bay Area artificial lawn of choice, contact onelawn toll free at 1-877-661-5296.  www.onelawn.com

Artificial Grass Prevents Mowing Injuries

Published on March 6, 2010 in Artificial Grass. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Even though it’s still winter here in the Bay Area, it won’t be long before people start thinking of getting out the old lawn mower on a regular basis to cut the grass. Perhaps this might be a good time to reflect on whether you should have a synthetic lawn installed.

”Why?”, you ask? Well, apart from the most obvious benefits of artificial grass such as saving on water, helping to reduce air and water pollution and saving hours of labor, mowing ‘natural’ grass can lead to accidents and injuries.

According to a report carried out over a period of 5 years in the USA, well over 60,000 Americans were admitted to hospital emergency rooms because of lawn mower accidents. The most common injuries were cuts and bruises but there were cases of bone fractures, limb amputations and even a number of deaths. Admittedly, the ride-on type of lawn mower was a contributor to these type of accidents, however, power mowers and even push mowers were responsible for the lion share of injuries.

So what’s the solution? Well, you can start reading up on how to avoid lawn mower injuries OR you can decide to install an artificial lawn for a greener solution. Long term you are likely to reap far greater benefits than just avoiding lawn mower accidents – you’ll be helping the environment, saving on needless lawn watering and of course spending more time in your garden at leisure because you don’t have to spend countless hours mowing the grass and emptying the grass clippings!

In the San Francisco Bay Area, The Good Nature Company’s onelawn is a cut above the rest (pun intended). You can visit their website at www.onelawn.com or call them, toll free at:
1-877-661-5296. That’s 1-8-77-66-1LAWN.