Two months on from the FIFA World Cup 2026™, the legacy of the tournament continues to be felt with a notable sustainability initiative set to benefit several clubs in Canada, and the wider environment, for years to come.

As BC Place Vancouver wrapped up its final match of the tournament in July, a team of groundskeeping professionals began working on another landmark moment for the competition.

Just hours after the final whistle following Switzerland’s Round of 16 penalty shoot-out win over Colombia in Vancouver, the team began cutting and dismantling the hybrid grass playing field with the main purpose of recycling both the natural and synthetic materials that made up the pitch.

Home of Major League Soccer side Vancouver Whitecaps and BC Lions of the Canadian Football League, BC Place Vancouver’s existing pitch was fully synthetic – meaning it needed to be converted ahead of the FIFA World Cup™ this summer.

A hybrid turf pitch was installed which was made up of 38mm of Western Canadian sand from Vancouver Island, a 50-50 mix of Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass seeds, and an Australian-made compostable base with synthetic fibres sewn into the material.

The turf was grown at Bos Sod Farms Inc., a turf supplier in nearby Abbotsford, British Columbia,before being installed in Vancouver ahead of the opening match.

This combination created an ideal playing surface which was praised by various players across the tournament, but it did bring about a complication when it came to what to do with the surface after the tournament, with BC Place Vancouver set to return to a synthetic pitch at the competition’s conclusion.

The hybrid nature of the pitch meant donating the turf in its current state wasn’t possible – as the synthetic fibres need to be separated from the natural materials – so a new and innovative method of recycling it needed to be developed.

Following the cutting and rolling of the sod, the pitch was transported back to Bos Sod Farms Inc. where it will remain for approximately 12 months in total.

During that time, the turf undergoes a process which will separate the synthetic and natural materials, allowing the synthetic fibres to be recycled and the natural materials to be repurposed to produce new pitches and sod. Additional materials, including the plastic crates, and elements of the irrigation and drainage systems will be repurposed.

“This is one of the FIFA World Cup pitches that is temporary, so it needed to be removed after thetournament,” said Sustainability Manager for FIFA Canada, Gillian Orris.

“This is the first time that a World Cup pitch has been recycled. Our team has worked collaboratively to make sure we could do thisina responsible way. This model demonstrates that recycling can be part of the pitch lifecycle when temporary pitches are required for future tournaments and major sporting events.

“It’s important because an event of this scale inevitably has an environmental impact. Initiatives like this help prioritise sustainability and reduce that impact.”