'Green' bunker sand for UK course

Stanley Park golf course

Re-cycling is the new buzz-word of the 21st century where millions of us are separating our glass from our plastic, our cans from our paper and our waste from our compostable left-overs. It seems golf could soon be one of the major beneficiaries of this appropriately-named 'green' awareness.

Almost everyone is responding to the clarion calls from both government and local authorities - indeed world leaders - to try to extend the life of the planet for generations to come by re-cycling our rubbish and avoid it being buried for our 22nd century ancestors to re-discover and one golf course in Blackpool is already reaping the benefit.

Ultra-fine, re-cycled sand made from waste glass is already be spread on the fairways of the Stanley Park par-3 course and if trials are successful, golfers could soon be playing from bunkers made from re-cycled products.

The high-grade bunker sand is the first in the North West to be made from recycled glass as part of a Blackpool-based waste trade scheme

Emprise. The golf course collected hundreds of glass bottles and metal cans which are separated and the glass ground down to create the new sand.

Says course manager Steven Hesk: "It's a very interesting application for recycled glass. We have already used it in one bunker on the course and it looks fine. It's strange to think that not so long ago, this sand might have been a glass bottle or jar and now it's here on the course performing another useful function.

"We think it's a very imaginative solution and if the trial is successful, I can see that it would have distinct environmental benefits," says Steve, who reveals the glass is collected from over 100 trade customers and taken to Eco-Aggregates, a Fleetwood company that produces a range of recycled glass products, including high quality sand for golf courses.

David Bowker, managing director of Nimtech, which is working with Emprise for the trials, said: "This is a commendable example of efficient re-cycling. Here, glass is being recycled effectively without the need to expend large amounts of energy or other resources to produce a safe and clean new product – in this case, bunker sand. "

For golfers, the sound of breaking glass, only previously associated with a golf ball through a nearby window, could soon take on a whole new interpretation.

Tell us on the forum which part of golf - the game or your game - is totally rubbish and which needs re-cycling.