Three yards and a cloud of … crumb rubber?
Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it? But instead of a cloud of dust hovering over football fields on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, athletes are getting a face full of rubber pellets.
Many of today’s common artificial playing surfaces are comprised of polyethylene and polypropylene – both plastics – and rubber pellets from recycled car and truck tires, according to USA Today. The new fields have garnered rave reviews, but some won’t fully embrace their benefits due to problems associated with the turf’s predecessor.
Older artificial surfaces, which were installed at playgrounds, athletic fields and parks, feature nylon “grass” about one-half-inch tall. Health officials are concerned the carpet-like playing surfaces are contaminated with lead, posing health risks to children and athletes. Lead has been discovered in the pigment used to color the artificial fields. Six artificial surfaces in New York and New Jersey have closed due to the lead content in the turf fibers.
Lead is not a primary concern for the more modern, polyethylene turf, but officials want to look into potential risks of the rubber pellets on humans and the environment. What if kids swallow the pellets? What if compounds from the recycled rubber pollute lakes and rivers as runoff?
While the USA Today article discusses the negatives surrounding artificial turf, school districts, parks, and colleges and universities also are weighing the benefits of specifying the surface. First, not having to water fields during peak seasons can save organizations a great deal of water and money.
For example, the West Linn-Wilsonville School District just outside of Portland, Ore., specified all-weather turf for its high school fields. The district could spend $10,000 a month watering one natural-grass field. That’s a high school field far from the public eye. Imagine the amount of watering and manicuring that goes into a natural surface at a university whose football team is featured on national television each week.
Proponents of artificial surfaces also tout the fields’ drainage and durability. One rainstorm on a natural-grass surface can create a muddy, sloppy mess the grounds crew has to deal with the rest of the season. And when a field is home to a handful of teams, the grass never has a chance to recover.
But before everyone gets onboard with the benefits of the polyethylene surfaces, officials in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere are considering the effects they have on children’s health and the environment.