Passing the Baton: CDS Furniture Donation Empowers Growing Florida School

Fast Facts on the CDS Turf Recycling Project:

• The Goal: Sustainably replace 131,750 square feet of stadium and baseball field turf.
• The Achievement: Kept 1.05 million pounds (527 tons) of debris out of Tampa landfills.
• The Method: Partnered with FieldTurf / Tarkett Sports using a vibration extraction process.
• The Result: Reclaimed 95% of the infill (equivalent to 30,000 recycled tires) to reuse on-site.

When most schools replace their athletic fields, the playbook is predictable: heavy machinery, loud construction, and a steady parade of dumpsters hauling tons of old plastic and rubber straight to the landfill. This summer, Carrollwood Day School completely threw out that playbook. When it came time to replace the decade-old, 131,750-square-foot athletic turf throughout the Wagner Athletic Complex, including Swain Field and the baseball field, our leadership team asked a fundamental question: How can we do this in a way that honors our commitment to sustainability and global citizenship?  The answer was a near-zero-waste engineering masterpiece. By thinking outside the box, we kept over one million pounds of debris out of local landfills, upgraded our own facilities, and supported our Tampa neighbors.

Here is how we pulled it off.

The "Double Recycling" of 30,000 Tires
The biggest environmental hurdle in any turf replacement is the "infill"—the heavy mixture of sand and rubber under the surface that cushions our athletes. At eight pounds of infill per square foot, our fields held a staggering 1.05 million pounds (527 tons) of this material. To tackle this, CDS partnered with FieldTurf / Tarkett Sports to use a specialized extraction process. The crew cut the turf into precise 3.5-foot strips and ran them through an innovative machine that uses vibration to separate the infill from the synthetic grass. The results were incredible: we extracted 95% of the infill, collecting it into 300 massive industrial bags stored right here on-site to be reused in our new fields. This is where the "double recycling" magic comes in. The rubber infill we originally installed back in 2016 was made from 30,000 recycled scrap tires. By preserving it, CDS ensured those 30,000 tires continue to serve a sustainable purpose rather than sitting in a landfill for centuries.

Giving Our Turf a Second Life
Once the infill was removed, we were left with clean, lightweight synthetic turf. Instead of throwing it away, we looked for a way to give back to our local community. CDS donated 100% of the turf strips to a local church, which brought in flatbed trailers to haul the material away. It is now being repurposed for community use, extending the lifecycle of the material while supporting our neighbors.

Shopping Our Own Backyard: Upgrading CDS Softball
The sustainability effort didn't stop at the stadium sidelines. Our baseball field’s main pitching mound and two warm-up mounds consisted of premium, high-quality clay. Rather than demolishing and discarding it, our project crew carefully excavated the clay and kept it on campus. This material is being transferred directly to the CDS Softball Field to upgrade their playing surface for the upcoming season. By the time the project wrapped up, the only item from the entire pitching complex that went into the trash was the thin protective liner sitting beneath the clay.

A True Win-Win-Win
If you walked past the construction site this summer, you probably noticed something shocking: the two massive 30-yard construction dumpsters brought on-site sat virtually empty. Not a single piece of the actual playing field went to waste.

This project represents the perfect trifecta of what we strive for at Carrollwood Day School," says Larry Pittman, CFO/COO. "We saved significant disposal costs, we provided a massive amount of usable material to a local church at no cost to the school, we upgraded our own softball facilities, and we kept over a million pounds of plastic, clay, and rubber out of our local landfills. It’s a recycling masterpiece.

As our new, state-of-the-art fields open for play, they carry forward a new legacy for CDS Athletics. One where peak performance on the field is matched by our responsibility to the planet.

CDS Sustainability: By The Numbers

• 1,001,300 lbs: The amount of rubber and sand infill saved for reuse. What does 500+ tons look like? It’s equivalent to the weight of 75 adult elephants or 250 average passenger cars!
• 30,000 Tires: Scrap tires originally recycled in 2016, now rescued for a second time.
• 131,750 sq ft: Total area of clean synthetic turf donated to a local church for community use.
• 3 Mounds: Number of clay pitching areas recycled internally to upgrade the CDS softball field.
• 0%: The amount of the actual playing field that ended up in a dumpster.