11 Reasons why artificial turf is so bad
Sneedville from The Lorax (2021) - the plastic city: image Screenshot by musingsforus.com
In a world that is experiencing a rapidly changing climate due to man-made fossil fuel consumption, a world where natural resources are quickly running out and we are seeing unprecedented loss of biological diversity, we need to carefully consider what we put in our gardens and built landscapes - think The Lorax (2012) where the city was covered in plastic.
Natural grass - an ecosystem above and below the ground
Artificial lawns are plastic. They are made out of fossil fuels and need fossil fuels to produce them and transport them.
Their production and transportation emit carbon dioxide contributing to climate change.
They require chemicals to clean them
They shed plastic fibres during their use, which will enter the environment and food chain
Artificial turf is laid on sub-base such as hardcore and sand, resources that are not renewable.
The turf and sub-base forms a barrier over the soil and unlike real grass stops the soil functioning properly as an ecosystem.
The topsoil that was in the garden before the sub-base was laid is removed and lost. It takes millions of years to create topsoil, which is necessary for life, including ours.
Rain water is unable to easily penetrate the turf and enter the subsoil and water table. And if it does, it is not ‘cleaned’ - plant roots (including grass roots) provide the natural environment for bacteria that clean up water as it passes through the soil.
In hot weather, artificial turf can become unbearable to touch with bare skin. In urban and city gardens, this also adds to the elevated temperatures known as the heat island effect. With the increasing number of days of very hot weather we are experiencing, these issues are only going to become more of a problem.
Despite being labelled recyclable, there is no where to actually recycle this product at the end of the plastic turf’s life (which could be well before the plastic has actually worn out). And even if there was, this would require energy to transport to the product to the recycling facility and energy to separate the different plastics, and more energy to make the plastics in a form that can be made into new products.
Artificial turf means no contact for children with the beneficial microbes in soil that help our mental health and immune systems that they would encounter whilst playing on real grass (or on soil-based planting).
Further reading:
‘Have your say’ - an article on why we should avoid artificial turf at all costs written by Rachel for the landscape industry published in Prolandscaper, December 2019
For lower maintenance alternatives to a lawn and/or alternatives for conditions where grass will not grow, our blog post on the subject.