Game over for football field’s toxic turf

By Kwame Opoku-Duku
The Guardsman

In September, City College will replace the synthetic turf used for the football field with a non-toxic, 100 percent recyclable turf, becoming one of the first schools in the area to do so.
This new replacement turf – made up primarily of recycled crumb rubber and polyethylene – has garnered much attention after Potrero Hill residents organized against a plan to install the same kind at the Potrero Hill Recreation Center in 2008, citing health and environmental concerns.

“When you look at the field now from a distance, you see just as much black as green,” Football Coach George Rush said. “No one knows about the long-term effects this might have on the environment, but I know we want our kids playing in an environment that isn’t going to hurt them. I don’t want to be breathing in carcinogens and I sure don’t want my team doing it.”

Although several organizations – including the California Office of Environment Health Hazard Assessment and San Francisco Environment – have found the safety hazard of the rubber and polyethylene play fields to be low, the arrival of a non-toxic playing surface will be sure to ease the fears of those still on the fence about unnatural playing surfaces.

“We’re looking forward to it starting,” Athletic Chairperson Dan Hayes said. “It was time to replace our current turf, which we’ve had since the early 2000s, and to be able to make it more green-friendly is great.”

The new turf, Developed by an Italian company called Mondo, may signal a new beginning in the turf debate by offering a product that has greater durability than grass, is free of carcinogens, and doesn’t threaten the environment.

Mondo turf also boasts lower surface temperatures, which reduces the “heat island effect” that comes with black rubber granules, which in time may oxidize the polyethylene fibers that comprise the turf’s “grass” making it more like a carpet than a field.

“We did our homework,” Rush said. “Money-wise, when someone comes to pick up the turf we have now, we’re going to have to pay them to dispose of it. In ten years, when this new turf has run its course, someone is going to pay us because it is 100 percent recyclable. Really, this is cutting edge stuff. It can drain 600 gallons of water in an hour, although, let’s hope that never has to happen.”

With it being  40 percent  more dense than traditional black rubber granules, the overall performance of the turf will improve as well,  providing a more uniform and stable field designed to decrease the risk of turf-related injuries.

“For us, it’s really about three things: safety, performance and environment,” Rush said.  And this is the best thing out there yet.”