The artificial turf of the high school football field.

After installing the artificial turf football field, it covers an area of ​​1.32 acres; a football field covers an area of ​​1.76 acres; for the lacrosse field, the size is slightly larger.

The synthetic turf field is made of plastic. Plastic fibers that look like grass are usually made of nylon, polypropylene, or polyethylene, which are different types of plastic.

Under the acres of plastic are more layers of plastic and rubber, usually including shock-absorbing pads and drainage pads.

The Synthetic Turf Committee, a major trade organization in the industry, estimates that there are approximately 12,000 to 13,000 artificial turf sites in the United States, with approximately 1,200 to 1,500 new installations each year.

Does the person who recommends installing the artificial turf field take into account the increase in heat caused by the popularity of plastic or climate change? This article will consider both.

First of all, the caloric content of the artificial turf field and what this means as the temperature rises today.

On a warm sunny day, the temperature of the synthetic turf may be 40 to 70 degrees higher than the surrounding air temperature

Stuart Gaffin, a former climate researcher at Columbia University, compared artificial lawns with nearby grasslands. He found that in the sunny afternoon, the artificial turf is 60 degrees hotter than the grass, and it can easily reach a temperature of 140 degrees or higher. This is close to the temperature recorded on black tar, on the beach or on the roof.

As a result of Graffin's report, Environment and Human Health Inc. found that when the outdoor air temperature is 75 degrees, the artificial turf can reach 120 degrees; when the outdoor air is 91 degrees, the field temperature can be as high as 161 degrees.

A study by the University of Missouri found that the university’s artificial turf reached 173 degrees in a day at 98 degrees, while the nearby grass hovered at 105 degrees.

The National Catastrophic Sports Injury Research Center reports that since 1995, 51 high school rugby players have died of exertional heatstroke. College football players also continued to die from heat stroke.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that in the continental United States, the temperature this year was 2.6 degrees above average. This surpassed the record high temperature in the sandstorm summer of 1936.

In this period of climate change, the heat of artificial turf land is very serious-but when we are submerged in plastic and microplastics, the plastic area contained in these artificial turf land is also the same.

Microplastics are tiny particles of plastic that are broken down from larger fragments and then spread all over the world. Microplastics exist in our food, water and even the air. Most plastics can be physically and chemically degraded to produce microplastics, such as being stepped on and exposed to constant sunlight. It is impossible to say that the plastic synthetic turf field that has been used will not increase the ubiquitous microplastics in our environment.

Plastic grass in the field of synthetic turf is no longer just plastic. Plastic grass is usually added with other toxic substances, such as flame retardants, antibacterial agents and perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are also present in plastic grass. Some manufacturers have added antibacterial agents during the manufacturing process to make them part of the plastic grass molecular structure.

After many years of athletes playing on these plastic carpets and agitating the microplastics, eventually these fields were worn out and had to be replaced. This happens anywhere from eight to ten years.

So what happens to all these plastics? Industry insiders tell us that these plastic carpets can be recycled-but is this really the case?

The Synthetic Turf Committee reports that by 2020, 750 fields will be replaced each year. Because the turf field is filled inside the blades of plastic grass, this makes recycling almost impossible. Synthetic turf plastic carpet becomes another waste disposal challenge. Many plastic carpets are landfilled, and many are simply rolled up and thrown somewhere.

Because used fields contain a lot of toxic substances, they usually end up immersing zinc, PFAS, microplastics, and other compounds in the area where they roll up and leave.

Surprisingly, we see that the use of disposable plastic bags and plastic straws is banned in cities and towns, but at the same time, they are approving acres of plastic fields. How could there be such a disconnect in public thinking?

Nancy Alderman is the President of Environment and Human Health, Inc. in North Haven.