 The debate over whether to install turf over grass fields has become a referendum on sports, health, the environment and the use of scarce public resources.
By Ken Belson and Hiroko Tabuchi July 26, 2025 Across the country, cities and towns are replacing grass fields with synthetic turf, a change that is driven by youth sports teams eager for more year-round playing spaces and the multibillion-dollar turf industry working to convince communities that plastic fields are better than natural ones. Many local officials, at the urging of families involved in youth sports, say turf fields can easily be played on after it rains and don’t need to be mowed or reseeded. But some residents, environmentalists and coaches are pushing back, claiming turf — which is made of plastic blades that mimic the look of grass and often sit on a layer of crumb rubber — is expensive to maintain because it must be replaced after several years, is vulnerable to flooding and exposes children to harmful chemicals and hotter temperatures. The debate over whether to install turf over grass fields has become a referendum on sports, health, the environment and the use of scarce public resources. In 2022, Boston effectively banned the installation of artificial turf, and municipalities in California, Connecticut and elsewhere have followed suit. Read the article  Santa Clara County Supervisors are considering an artificial turf ban on county land, with proponents citing potential health concerns and a global plastic pollution problem. But opponents argue the ban would only exacerbate an existing shortage of places for kids to play sports. By Candice Nguyen, Michael Bott, Jeremy Carroll, Michael Horn, Robbie Beasom and Michael Campbell, December 30, 2024 As Santa Clara County supervisors consider a proposed artificial turf ban on county-owned land, parents and activists are pointing to the disposal of a local high school’s old field to highlight emerging concerns that plastic fields can’t be meaningfully recycled and come with a host of potential environmental consequences. When Saratoga High School replaced its old artificial turf field last year, district records show a company called TurfCycle USA issued a chain of custody letter stating, “14 trucks were loaded from Saratoga HS and shipped to the TurfCycle facility” in Pescadero. From there, the document states, the old turf field would be “re-purposed into the local community for general landscaping, batting cages, gym flooring, cross-fit, sport related ground coverings and erosion control.” A group of parents and local activists who had been tracking news reports from across the country about giant rolls of artificial turf found piling up in fields or illegally dumped followed three of those trucks, however, which they say did not go to the Pescadero facility as the TurfCycle document stated. Instead, parents watched and snapped photos as the three trucks left more than 50 large rolls of artificial turf in a San Martin field, about 75 miles away from the TurfCycle facility and in an entirely different county. View the full investigative report from NBC.
 “There are no short number of microplastics that come with these products,” said Dianne Woelke, a retired nurse who is part of Safe Healthy Playing Fields
By Dana Williams • Published October 27, 2023 • Updated on October 27, 2023 at 7:49 pm In the past several years, homeowners in California have opted to exchange natural grass for synthetic turf, which has been seen as a year-round drought-resistant green grass option of which many neighbors would be envious. However, Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed legislation that permits local governments, including cities and counties, to ban synthetic grass in neighborhoods due to potential health concerns. “There are no short number of microplastics that come with these products,” said Dianne Woelke, a retired nurse who is part of Safe Healthy Playing Fields. “They continue to degrade. They continue to leach out all of these PFAs and other chemicals.” Woelke has spent years collecting information related to the health concerns that come from synthetic turf. She said not only are there PFAs (also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) and microplastics, but the fake grass can create a heat island effect and blades can hold onto bacteria, especially on large-scale sport fields. “Our kids and their grandkids are going to inherit what we leave them as far as the environmental disaster we’re creating,” Woelke said. PFAs are long-lasting chemicals that are widely used, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They have been found in water, air, fish and soil at locations throughout the world, not just in the U.S. “People need to understand that these kinds of risks also apply if kids are playing on their lawns at home,” Woelke said. Read the original article |
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