Old synthetic turf will need to be disposed of every 8-10 years.

Disposing of the 57,600 square feet of used synthetic turf will not be cheap.  In environmentally-consious society, we should consider not generating the waste in the first place, by not installing synthetic turf unless there is an environmental advantage.

 

Crumb rubber and Nike Grind contain many chemicals, to include lead?  

The chemical breakdown of Nike Grind is not readily available.  However, supporters and distributors of Crumb Rubber have tried to discredit Nike Grind by indicting that Nike Grind contains higher concentrations of lead than Crumb Rubber.  Who is telling the truth?

Start listening to this clip the 01:01:51 mark of the video of the session of the testimony in the California Legislature.

http://calchannel.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=7&clip_id=2649

 

Mowing natural grass turf and grooming synthetic turg

To be fair to synthetic turf, mowing a natural grass turf field will generate pollution from the gasoline driven mowers.  The grooming equipment for a synthetic turf field will likely be the same tractors that are used for mowing a natural grass turf field.  Four cycle engines are cleaner than they used to be, but they certainly are not "green".

 

Water and Air Pollution

Potential Risk to Surface Waters

"The DEP concludes that there is a potential risk to surface waters and aquatic organisms associated with whole effluent and zinc toxicity of stormwater runoff from artificial turf fields. Zinc concentrations in the stormwater may cause exceedences of the acute aquatic toxicity criteria for receiving surface waters, especially smaller watercourses. The DEP suggests that use of stormwater treatment measures, such as stormwater treatment wetlands, wet ponds, infiltration structures, compost filters, sand filters and biofiltration structures, may reduce the concentrations of zinc in the stormwater runoff from artificial turf fields to levels below the acute aquatic toxicity criteria."

http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/artificialturf/dep_artificial_turf_report.pdf

 

References and More Information

 

From the National Institute of Health:

Characterization of substances released from crumb rubber material used on artificial turf fields.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20435333

 

The Effects of Crumb Rubber on Water Quality

http://www.synturf.org/images/CRWR-Artificial_Turf_Report.pdf

 

Note:  For nearly every report that indicates that water can be negatively effected by the run-off from synthetic turf, there is often another report that will indicate that the toxicity levels are not at a high enough level to worry about.  Much like the addictive nature of nicotine, the issues with high fructose corn syrup and discussions about climate change, the "there is no proof" line is often repeated by the promoters of synthetic turf.