Each statement: claim → public source → date → evidence label → limitation. Figures are shown separately and never added together.
HISTORICAL RAPID INFRASTRUCTURE BUILD-OUT EVIDENCE · official_source_verified
Historical MLSZ source: 115 new artificial-turf pitches were opened during one programme year. Historical build-out evidence — not a current annual construction rate.
Sources: [1] palyaepites.mlsz.hu
CURRENT MLSZ ASSET-MANAGEMENT / RENOVATION-AGE CONTEXT · official_source_verified
MLSZ: maintenance-inspection companies annually assess pitches older than approximately 8–9 years and recommend renovation when required; the renovation programme began in 2023 for pitches built at least about 8–10 years earlier. Asset-age context — not a universal turf lifetime.
Sources: [1] szovetseg.mlsz.hu [2] szovetseg.mlsz.hu
CURRENT ARTIFICIAL-TURF USE EVIDENCE · official_source_verified
MLSZ Budapest organised the 2026 Téli Nagypályás Torna on multiple large artificial-turf pitches, including Szántóföld utcai Sporttelep, Ikarus BSE Sporttelep, Deák Ferenc 'Bamba' Sporttelep, Kelen SC and Pokorny József Sport- és Szabadidőközpont. Use evidence — not a national stock count.
Sources: [1] budapest.mlsz.hu
CTE DATA GAP / AUDIT CONCLUSION · unknown
Current verified national turf-recycling capacity: UNKNOWN. Throughput: UNKNOWN. GT Sport annual capacity and throughput: UNKNOWN — 14,000 m² displayed stock and the 99% infill-cleaning claim are not capacity. SMG machinery is not processing capacity.
CTE DATA GAP / AUDIT CONCLUSION · unknown
National treatment split (reuse, material recycling, energy recovery, landfill / disposal, export): UNKNOWN — no chart. National destinations of removed turf carpet, sand and SBR / EPDM / TPE: UNKNOWN. GT Sport proves infill separation and commercial second-life reuse of sports turf in Hungary; it does not establish a national reuse share or per-fraction final destinations. Cleaned carpet, removed sand and granulate do not automatically have End-of-Waste status; reuse, recycling and End-of-Waste are kept separate.
CTE DATA GAP / AUDIT CONCLUSION · unknown
Current measured national EOL tonnage: UNKNOWN. National material treatment split: UNKNOWN. No Hungary tonnes/year model in v1.0 — neither 74 × assumed mass nor programme stock × assumed lifetime.
GENERAL CURRENT CIRCULAR-ECONOMY / EPR CONTEXT · official_source_verified
Hungarian waste management has been restructured through concession and extended producer responsibility arrangements (e.g. 80/2023. (III. 14.) Korm. rendelet). General EPR context — artificial turf is not claimed to be included in a specific EPR stream without product-specific evidence.
Sources: [1] njt.jog.gov.hu
CURRENT HUNGARIAN / EU REGULATORY INFORMATION · official_source_verified
NNGYK (Hungarian public-health authority) lists 17 October 2031, after an eight-year transition period, for granular infill used in synthetic sports surfaces: from that date granular polymeric infill for synthetic sports surfaces may no longer be placed on the EU market. This is not a ban on artificial turf, does not require existing pitches to close and does not require existing rubber infill to be removed in 2031.
Sources: [1] nngyk.gov.hu
CTE DATA GAP / AUDIT CONCLUSION · unknown
Current volume of Hungarian EOL turf exported: UNKNOWN. Destination countries: UNKNOWN — not inferred (Austria, Slovakia, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Croatia) without project evidence.
MLSZ FORWARD-LOOKING PROGRAMME TARGET · official_source_verified
MLSZ TAO strategy material indicates an intention after 2025 of approximately 75 pitch renovations per year. Planning indication — not a forecast certainty and not a current actual replacement count.
Sources: [1] szovetseg.mlsz.hu
COMPANY-REPORTED INFILL-REMOVAL, REUSE AND INVENTORY CLAIMS · company_reported
GT Sport company claims: turf is cleaned of 99% of its infill with a specially developed machine (≠ 99% recycling, material recovery or national rate); cleaned turf is reused for terraces, wall decoration, dog kennels, gardens, playgrounds and hobby sport, including refilled with sand for hobby sport (REUSE — not material or closed-loop recycling); removed infill is 'used to create new value' (downstream destination UNKNOWN / company claim only); the website displays approximately 14,000 m² of used turf in stock (inventory — not capacity, throughput or national EOL stock).
Sources: [1] hasznaltmufu.hu
ACTIVE PRE-PROCESSOR / USED-TURF CLEANING / REUSE PROCESSOR (COMPANY-REPORTED) · company_reported
GT SPORT Kft. / Használt Műfű (office: 1224 Budapest, Barackos út 113), active: describes professional lifting / removal of used sports turf, mechanical removal of infill, cleaning, quality control, selection and resale of cleaned turf for reuse; reports more than 10 years of experience. CTE classification: active pre-processor / used-turf cleaning / reuse processor — physical processing, not a full-field material recycler. The Budapest address is an office, not a verified processing plant: no fixed map pin. Capacity and throughput: UNKNOWN.
Sources: [1] hasznaltmufu.hu
CTE DATA GAP / AUDIT CONCLUSION · unknown
NO CURRENT FIXED HUNGARIAN END-OF-LIFE SYNTHETIC-TURF MATERIAL-RECYCLING FACILITY VERIFIED TO CTE PUBLIC-EVIDENCE STANDARD. Fixed turf-recycler pins: 0. GT Sport has no fixed pin (Budapest address is an office); SMG, Royal Grass and artificial-turf fields are not pinned. Hungary has verified physical turf removal, cleaning, infill removal and second-life activity through GT Sport — 0 fixed pins ≠ 0 circular EOL activity.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAMME · official_source_verified
MLSZ Országos Pályaépítési Program (national pitch-construction programme) provides standard designs for artificial-turf pitches of 14 × 26 m, 22 × 42 m, 44 × 64 m and 72 × 111 m. Programme infrastructure ≠ complete current national inventory.
Sources: [1] palyaepites.mlsz.hu
CURRENT LOCAL NEW-CONSTRUCTION EXAMPLES · official_source_verified
MLSZ regional sources confirm continued new artificial-turf construction in 2025: Tokod (20 × 40 m artificial-turf pitch) and Tokodaltáró (new artificial-turf football pitch commissioned September 2025). Local examples — not a national new-field rate and not aggregated into national stock.
Sources: [1] komarom.mlsz.hu [2] komarom.mlsz.hu
HISTORICAL PRE-2010 PROGRAMME OUTPUT · official_source_verified
MLSZ 2025 plan: before 2010 approximately 80 artificial-turf pitches of various sizes were built nationally under the OLLÉ programme. Historical output — not added to MLSZ programme totals without overlap and operational-status verification.
Sources: [1] szovetseg.mlsz.hu
CTE DATA GAP / AUDIT CONCLUSION · unknown
Landscape artificial-turf stock, EOL and recycling: UNKNOWN (Royal Grass belongs to landscape / product / take-back context). Rekortán and other synthetic sport surfaces are not artificial turf and are not counted. Hybrid, padel, tennis and multisport turf: UNKNOWN; not extrapolated from MLSZ football data.
CTE DATA GAP / AUDIT CONCLUSION · unknown
CTE has not identified a currently active Hungarian fixed full-field synthetic-turf recycling facility that meets the CTE public-evidence standard. Verified counts: fixed full-field 0; fixed part-stream (carpet, fibre / backing, used field infill) 0; active pre-processing / reuse actors 1 (GT Sport / Használt Műfű). Generic plastics or rubber recyclers and tyre recyclers do not qualify; recycled-rubber production is not used-infill recycling.
MLSZ PROGRAMME-BUILT INFRASTRUCTURE BY PITCH TYPE · official_source_verified
MLSZ TAO publication: pitches built within the national pitch-construction programme 2012–2024 by type — small pitches (kispálya) 602, grund 184, full-size (nagypálya) 89, half-pitches (félpálya) 23. Updated programme-output counts — not current Hungarian artificial-turf stock (not a full census; some programmes include other surfaces; pitches may since have been replaced, converted or removed; other pitches exist outside the programme).
Sources: [1] szovetseg.mlsz.hu
HISTORICAL MLSZ PROGRAMME OUTPUT THROUGH 2023 · official_source_verified
Earlier MLSZ TAO publication: 879 pitches built during the first 13 years of the programme, covering approximately 1.85 million m² (583 small, 184 grund, 89 full-size, 23 half-pitches). Prior snapshot — not added to the 2012–2024 distribution and not current installed national stock.
Sources: [1] tao-palyazatok.mlsz.hu
OFFICIAL MLSZ NATIONAL PROGRAMME RENOVATION COUNT · official_source_verified
MLSZ 2025 professional report: 28 artificial-turf pitches renovated in 2023 (MLSZ programme renovations — not a complete national EOL count).
Sources: [1] szovetseg.mlsz.hu
OFFICIAL MLSZ YEAR-END PROGRAMME RENOVATION COUNT (WITH INTERIM CHRONOLOGY) · official_source_verified
2024 MLSZ programme renovations — chronology: 15 Nov 2024 interim publication: 85 pitches renovated (2 full-size, 1 half, 66 small, 16 grund; mostly built 2012–2014); later MLSZ 2025 annual report: 110 previously built artificial-turf pitches renovated during 2024. Preferred historical value: 110 (later annual report); 85 retained as interim. Not averaged.
Sources: [1] szovetseg.mlsz.hu [2] szovetseg.mlsz.hu
OFFICIAL MLSZ 2025 NATIONAL PROGRAMME RENOVATION COUNT · official_source_verified
MLSZ 2025 annual report: in 2025, 74 previously built pitches received a new artificial-turf surface and ball-stop netting — 1 full-size, 3 half-pitches (40 × 60 m), 49 small pitches, 21 grund pitches. This establishes current turf-replacement activity; it does not establish tonnage, area replaced, composition, destination or recycling rate. Earlier 2025 targets (60; 80–100; 96) were plans, not results.
Sources: [1] szovetseg.mlsz.hu
CTE DATA GAP / AUDIT CONCLUSION · unknown
MLSZ programme renovations (2023: 28; 2024: 110; 2025: 74) are KNOWN; total national all-sector replacements (private, non-football, non-MLSZ, landscape and other sports) are UNKNOWN. No national tonnage is derived: pitch sizes differ (1 / 3 / 49 / 21 in 2025), infill systems differ and mass data are unavailable. Not directly comparable with other countries' EOL field counts.
PRODUCT MANUFACTURER / TAKE-BACK PROGRAMME CONTEXT · company_reported
Royal Grass Hungary promotes 100% recyclability and a Take Back programme, but its Hungarian page states the collection points are dealer collection points in the Netherlands. '100% recyclable' is a product claim — not 100% actually recycled and not a Hungarian recycling rate. Landscape / product context; not counted as a Hungarian facility.
Sources: [1] royalgrass.hu
SPORTS-SURFACE MACHINERY / TECHNOLOGY SUPPLIER · company_reported
SMG (Hungarian-language operation) supplies machines for installation, maintenance, restoration and recycling-related turf operations. Technology supplier — not a Hungarian EOL turf processor; machine availability ≠ processing facility ≠ national capacity ≠ Hungarian throughput; no map pin.
Sources: [1] smg-gmbh.hu
CTE DATA GAP / AUDIT CONCLUSION · unknown
Current verified national artificial-turf pitch count: UNKNOWN. Current verified national artificial-turf area: UNKNOWN. MLSZ publishes extensive construction and renovation data, but CTE has not identified a complete current public national census. Hungary has a substantial installed artificial-turf football base evidenced by multiple national programmes; the current complete national stock remains UNKNOWN.
CTE DATA GAP / AUDIT CONCLUSION · unknown
End-of-life tyres → rubber granulate → artificial-turf infill is upstream circular material supply, not end-of-life turf recycling. Hungarian tyre recyclers are not added to turf infrastructure unless used field infill or turf-derived rubber is explicitly proven as input.
CURRENT NATIONAL WASTE-FRAMEWORK CONTEXT · official_source_verified
Hungarian Waste Act (2012. évi CLXXXV. törvény a hulladékról) is the current national waste framework. No turf-specific facility permits are derived. A universal Hungarian synthetic-turf waste code is NOT ESTABLISHED — systems may contain plastic, rubber, sand and mixed fractions, and coding depends on origin, separation, processing stage and destination.
Sources: [1] njt.jog.gov.hu
