Environmental questions raised concerning plastic grass

However, several years ago, some third-generation artificial turf product came out, including Montreal’s FieldTurf Tarkett, and everyone’s attitude toward plastic grass changed. Not only did it actually resemble real grass, but was similar in softness, with far more give than its predecessors. It was made up in part of recycled rubber pellets. Its grass fibres were surrounded and stabilized by a special blend of ‘synthetic earth’ — FieldTurf’s patented mixture of smooth, rounded silica sand, rubber granules, and Nike Grind made of re-ground athletic shoe material.

Because of its easy maintenance and longer availability — beginning in early April and lasting right up to early December — fields throughout North America, including Parc des Bénévoles in Kirkland, welcomed the product. A similar product, called OmniGrass, is used at Dollard des Ormeaux Park.

Meanwhile, Pointe Claire is considering laying artificial grass next year on Terra Cotta Park’s soccer field while Dollard is mulling over doing the same on Sunnybrooke Park’s athletic field.

However, as sure as there are two sides to every story, environmental concerns have cropped up. Pellets have sometimes gotten stuck in shoes and transported into storm drains during heavy rains, and a study conducted by Dr. William Crane of the City College of New York and Dr. Junfeng Zhang of Rutgers University, determined that a FieldTurf surface in Manhattan’s Riverside Park contained polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and toxic metals.

The big question that arose was whether inhaling or touching these PAHs and toxic metals over an extended period of time could cause cancer.

“Let’s hope common sense prevails in this,” said FieldTurf Tarkett marketing director Darren Gill, a West Island resident. “There are so many people who live by highways. If you were to count the PAHs and rubber particles flowing in the air, these are actual particles. On fields, you’ve got full-sized pieces and very few actual rubber particles. The shape and size of this rubber will not get into your system, and even if you do happen to swallow some, you can’t break it down.”

Other environmental issues raised concerning FieldTurf include its heat effect and foul odour.

“We’re generally aware of those,” said Pointe Claire Mayor Bill McMurchie. “All of this will be just one element in the decision process of whether we use it at Terra Cotta Park, though. There is a question of capital cost of the installation, its life expectancy along with the extent of which we will be able to save money on the maintenance of existing facilities.”쇓