 "Photo: Allyson Riggs")
Cole Kirchner remembers when HSU first installed the artificial turf on the indoor field in the Student Recreation Center a couple of years ago. “I can still smell the fumes from the turf,” said Kirchner, an HSU Philosophy major. “I don’t know how people can play in there.”
The indoor soccer field and Redwood Bowl both feature this artificial turf, and the school plans on installing it on the new soccer field at the College Creek Apartments. All of the fields feature a substance made from recycled tires known as crumb rubber. The rubber is used in artificial turf as an infill. It keeps the blades of artificial grass upright, adds cushioning and allows for drainage when it rains.
Artificial fields provide more access in rainy weather, but may end up causing the school more money and headaches than if the school stuck with traditional grass.
Getting to the source
Nancy Alderman believes crumb rubber is harmful to people. Alderman is President of Environment and Human Health, Inc., a non-profit organization that includes several prominent members including Susan Addiss, a former commissioner of health for Connecticut.
Alderman and many others say that as the crumb rubber is pulverized by constant trampling, dust particles containing various carcinogens are kicked up into the air and inhaled by athletes, especially when they are breathing heavily.
The used tires from which the crumb is made are known to contain heavy metals, carcinogens and intoxicants, such as benzene. Benzene has been shown to cause cancer in both sexes of multiple species of laboratory animals.
“Those chemicals don’t go away just because you grind the tires up,” said Alderman.
There are also concerns regarding ground water and ocean contamination in the open air fields. “When it rains, the dust particles with all the hazardous materials drain into the sewers and seep into the ground,” said Alderman.
A Canadian government study examined the effects of different tires on water. They included one road-worn tire, and one new tire. The study found the water from both the new and used tires contained toxins and proved fatal to rainbow trout. The water from the used tire was more toxic and remained toxic for 24 days longer than the water from the new tire.
Tires contain a number of metals and chemicals including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are thought to be hazardous to the environment. The study said, “they are directly toxic to marine animals; they are harmful to humans; and PAH metabolites are potent animal and human carcinogens.”
Grass vs. Turf: Use and cost
Athletic director Dan Collen said Humboldt County experiences “a lot of rain” and after games the old grass soccer field is a mess. “It was like a mud bowl,” he said
Collen favors the artificial field over grass because the turf allows more access to field. He points to the fact that the school closed the grass field in order to allow the grass time to recover. With the artificial turf in place, the field can be used everyday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Tim Moxon, HSU director of Plant Operations, believes the new field will benefit the university more than a grass field. “It provides so much more access,” he said. “Here in Humboldt grass takes a beating.” Moxon said natural grass needs to be replaced often and it is expensive to maintain.
Luis Garcia, a Criminal Justice major, said if he had a choice, he would run on grass. “Artificial turf is itchy,” said Garcia. “As a runner it doesn’t matter to me if the field is closed [because of rain]. I can run anywhere, but as a soccer player I might feel differently.”
Brad Fresenburg is an expert in artificial turf grass. He supervises the day-to-day operations of the University of Missouri Turfgrass Research Center. Fresenburg calculated the costs of a regular grass field and a crumb rubber synthetic grass field, and found natural grass the least expensive over the course of one year.
Fresenburg showed the price of installing and maintaining each type of field when broken down by year is as follows: The natural field has a cost of $33,522, including the price of replacing the grass each year. The cost to purchase, install, maintain, and ultimately dispose of the field costs approximately $600,000 over 10 years, or $60,000 a year. This overall cost far outweighs any recycling credit HSU receives for using crumb rubber. “It’s in the low thousands,” said Moxon.
The artificial turf also dips into the university’s wallet to a tune of more than $300,000 for hazardous waste disposal, said George Cowan of Targa Pro. As a distributor of 100% recyclable artificial turf, Cowan said it is common for consumers not to be told about the added disposal fee. “In order to dispose of most artificial turf, you’ll have to pay a hazardous disposal fee.” Since crumb rubber is made from tires it can not be recycled.
The average life of an artificial turf football field is about 10 years. The Redwood Bowl is 10 years old and the seams are tearing. It will need to be replaced soon.
Moxon said HSU has a strong tradition of caring about environmental issues and can’t imagine that these issues have not been addressed.
Covering fields in the future
The EPA ruled all artificial turfs safe. They admitted more testing must be done, but saw no reason to stop installing these types of fields.
Today, nearly every manufacturer of artificial turf uses crumb rubber as infill in their products. For years the United States has had the daunting task of disposing of the 242 million automobile and truck tires discarded annually in the United States. That is roughly one tire for every man, woman and child in the U.S.
In 1993, Congress and tire manufacturers found a new way to turn a disposal problem into a money maker and passed new laws to get around old environmental laws. Since ground tires were a post-recycled product, tire laws no longer applied.
“It’s a marketing ploy,” said Alderman. “It’s the tire, rubber, and artificial turf businesses pushing their product.”
Alderman believes Congress and tire manufacturers saw an opportunity to dispose of millions of tires while making huge profits at the expense of the public’s health.
In California, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a lawsuit against three artificial turf manufacturers, including Astro Turf. He claims that the pigment used in the artificial turf has dangerous levels of lead. Manufacturers are fighting a two-headed dragon as Brown is now beginning to also look at concerns over rubber crumb.
The soccer field project is well underway and the turf can not be unsold. But once these turfs need replacement, will HSU install more artificial fields, or will it buy into the philosophy of retired baseball superstar Pete Rose? “If a cow can’t eat it, I don’t want to play on it.”
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