Artificial Turf – what is the true cost?

 

Have you been for a nice walk lately and seen what is beginning to appear on front gardens?

Artificial turf – better known as plastic grass – and if you will excuse the pun it is sprouting up everywhere – and that is of course just what it isn’t doing because it is plastic and it doesn’t grow!

It’s tempting, isn’t it?  No more mowing.  A perfect looking lawn. A surface the children can play on all year round and without mud being walked into the house afterwards.

There are downsides though….  It needs to be cleaned as there is nowhere for leaves and other debris to go. It can get too hot in the summer to play on and given the way our climate is changing this is likely to become more of an issue. It can also set on fire – there have been incidents of it burning when the sun hits glass or a mirror and shines directly onto the ‘grass’ it scorches it and can cause a fire. I’m fairly sure this is something the manufacturers never mention in their advertising.

From a wildlife perspective there is no life underneath artificial turf.  There is no soil, so no worms for birds to feed on, no worms to pull the dead leaves down into the soil and nowhere for leaves to rot down. Whilst your children might enjoy playing on it wildlife certainly does not.  Our gardens form some of the last refuges for wildlife due to the way intensive farming has reduced wildlife in our countryside.  Surely, we need to nurture our gardens and develop them into oases for wildlife.

Then what about the environmental impact?  Artificial turf is made from a mix of plastics, typically polyethylene and polypropylene, that give off harmful fumes as they degrade, as all plastics do.  As they break up, they release plastic pieces into the environment, some of them so small they can barely be seen, but can end up in our water courses and ultimately in us.  A recent study of the plastic pollution in the sea off Barcelona found that 15% of the plastic particles above 5mm long came from artificial turf.  Plastic particles released into our soil are virtually impossible to remove. There is a high carbon cost in its manufacture and when it comes to end of life and recycling that’s virtually impossible due to the number of containments embedded in it. 

Looking at the advantages and disadvantages, can we really afford it?