Artificial Turf
Selecting Safer Alternatives for Athletic Playing Fields
When municipalities, universities, schools and other institutions consider what type of athletic playing fields to install, they sometimes face a decision among natural grass, artificial turf with crumb rubber infill and artificial turf with other forms of infill.
TURI has created the video "Safer Alternatives for Athletic Fields" and a fact sheet to help organizations make informed decisions. Although this video focuses primarily on artificial turf infills, it is also important for decision-makers to research other components of the turf system, including the carpet fibers.
TURI Sports Turf Alternatives Assessment: Preliminary Results
In response to information requests from municipalities, TURI has undertaken an alternatives assessment for sports turf. Sections of the assessment are being published in the order in which they are developed. Documents available include:
- Introduction
- Cost Analysis
- Physical and Biological Hazards
- Infills: Overview
- Infills: Recycled Tires
- Infills: EPDM
- Infills: TPE
Other Turf Resources Available
The TURI Library’s Artificial Turf resource guide provides links to reports, articles and press reports related to artificial turf. TURI also prepared comments on a recent study by the Washington Department of Health.
Federal Research on Recycled Tire Crumb used in Playing Fields
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission have launched an effort to study key environmental human health questions related to crumb rubber used in playing fields. View the webinar about the research on crumb rubber. In December 2016, EPA published a status report on its research. The status report includes a detailed review of existing literature on infill made from recycled tires.
CPSC has also issued a report and recommendations related to children’s exposure to tire crumb in playground settings.
Springfield Uses Organic Natural Grass for Playing Fields
The City of Springfield, Mass. is using organic land care practices on school properties and 900 acres of public land and athletic fields. See the results in the video of the Forest Park athletic field.