Why Fake Grass is not an Environmental Solution
It’s summertime so we’re not expecting rain for a few months and the weather is hot. You’d like to invite your friends over for cocktails in the yard and your kids want a place to play. Fake grass/artificial turf seems like the perfect solution – no need to water it, little maintenance, and it provides all the benefits of a traditional lawn. For many people, there is the added perk that fake grass appears to be an environmental solution. With drought as a recurrent problem, we have been encouraged to limit our use of municipal water on our residential landscapes. The featured image above is from the NY Times article dated 07.09.2021 (see Resources below). I chose the words “seems” and “appears” because fake grass is a bit of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The reality is that fake grass is NOT an environmental solution – it has been said to be something extremely different – a “crime against nature” – akin to blowing smoke into a baby’s face (see Daily Mail, 2023, below). Fake grass is composed of fibers that mimic grass blades and a base material. The first fake grass was developed for playing fields and was installed in 1966 at the Houston Astrodome and hence was named “AstroTurf” (originally ChemGrass). The blades were nylon with a foam backing like carpet but no infill. Many injuries resulted due to the hard surface and the heat of the blades. Fake grass has evolved and improved since then and now includes polyethylene or polypropylene fibers attached to a backing material to hold them together, which is typically urethane. The layer of fake grass carpet is