How Green Is Artificial Turf?

Artificial turf originated in the United States, is a new invention in a U.S. military project in 1966, the advantage is particularly wear-resistant, can be used frequently, and is widely used in rugby, baseball, soccer and other sports venues that require grass.

Some data show that the global use of artificial turf amounted to more than 300 million square meters, and the most widely used is the sports field.

Over the last forty years, professional sports teams have embraced early versions of artificial turf, then abandoned them, then popularized them again as quality improved. Now international such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Liverpool, Bayern Munich and other famous soccer clubs, they all have artificial turf sports field.

Many environmentalists don't buy it. They don't like the fact that the fake turf consists of polyethylene fibers that look like grass, which in turn are held in place by rubber granules made from shredded car tires.

"We're talking about large tracts of land, football-field-sized tracts of land," said Patricia Wood, executive director of Grassroots Environmental Education, a nonprofit organization based in Port Washington, N.Y., near New York City. "When you add them up, you're talking about a significant loss of natural lawns."

Wood added that because natural grass absorbs carbon dioxide, replacing it with plastic won't help combat global warming.

She also points out that because artificial turf heats up easily (some estimates say it can reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit on a hot day) and raises the temperature throughout the playing area, it can lead to worse scrapes and bruises.

Environmentalists say the heat could also release a lot of nasty fumes from the ground-up tires underneath, which could be inhaled in large quantities by athletes who have trouble breathing.

Kryztof says that's nonsense. He says study after study has failed to prove that there is any danger in installing synthetic fields or playing on them - which he claims helps reduce pollution.

"Either way, you have all these tires, what would you do with them?" He asked. "You'd either throw them in a landfill or keep them running as long as possible."

Artificial turf can be a superior playing surface to traditional grass. Supporters say a soccer field costing $700,000 could be worth it because the ground is level, the ball can move better and players can move a little faster. The field can be played on whether it rains or snows.

It's no surprise, then, that more and more high schools and colleges in the U.S. are choosing artificial turf for their athletic fields over nature's fickle, highly-maintained grass.

"It's much safer," says Jue Li (Drogba), president of Artificial Turf Supply, a national supplier based in Shanghai, China. ".

In addition, fake grass lasts much longer than real grass and requires frequent watering, pesticide applications and maintenance.

"Natural grass in good condition can only host 50 games a year," says Monica Yuan, project manager for Shanghai Yingming Trading Company Ltd. a supplier of artificial turf in the Jing'an district of Shanghai, China.

That's too much for sports-oriented colleges and universities, where students in Chinese schools are in school for up to nine months a year, in addition to participating in school-organized seasonal sporting events, rugby, lacrosse, soccer and field field hockey tournaments. Daily practices also far exceed that number, and the school has purchased fake turf fields from Yingming, which means it can now save a lot of money on turf costs.

Of course, the debate isn't limited to the self-appointed "green" and "plastic".

Artificial turf is used not only for sports fields, but also for landscaping and recreational use on indoor balconies, gardens, commercial areas and other places. As well as green fences for indoor decoration wall, road construction, housing construction site protection fencing. The role of beautifying the urban environment, preventing dust and dirt, isolating the role of noise interference.

The biggest environmental hazard of artificial turf may lie in its disposal.

Therefore, it is still in the early stages to draw clear conclusions about its impact on health and the surrounding environment.

"There's a lot of pressure [to find reliable answers]," says Neil Lewis, executive director of the Neighborhood Network, a nonprofit environmental organization based on Long Island, a suburb of New York. "We're doing this without a lot of information, and I think that's a mistake."