Waste Tires in Artificial Turf Infill (Part 2) - Not a long-term solution

Recently California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) published the results of a much-anticipated study assessing the health risks from exposure to tire crumb infill (also known as “crumb rubber”) in artificial turf fields. To learn more about the tire crumb health risk assessment, see Waste Tires in Artificial Turf Infill: Understanding OEHHA’s health risk assessment (Part 1).

 OEHHA’s press release notes that the agency studied this material to inform California’s sustainability goals. When crumb rubber and synthetic turf comes into sustainability conversations, we should pause and consider what it means to substitute a synthetic product for natural grass, which Habitable has identified as preferable.1  What are the implications for the health of people and the environment throughout the product’s life cycle?