“To this point, no companies in the U.S. can fully recycle them, according to a turf trade association president.”

“It's being shipped overseas. It's being dumped in fields in Pennsylvania and wetlands in Maryland and Massachusetts,” said Kyla Bennett, science policy director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “I do not know anyone who's [disposing of fields] properly, because it cannot be done properly.”

Courier Times

The Issues·Artificial Turf

Artificial Turf Is Plastic. Everything else follows from that.

It is unnecessary. There is a proven alternative that professional athletes prefer. And at the end of its life, nobody in the United States can recycle it.

Every claim on this page is sourced. Where the evidence is contested, we link to the underlying study or agency memorandum so you can read it yourself rather than take our word for it.

None synthetic fields recycled in the United States The answer an industry representative gave when asked directly.
~3 tons of infill migrating off each field per year Into grass, water, and homes — and replaced annually. National Center for Health Research
500,000+ New Jersey residents estimated to be drinking PFAS-contaminated tap water Among the most widespread PFAS contamination in the country. Mount Sinai
Zero safe level of exposure to PFAS, benzene, or lead All three carry health consequences at every level of exposure.
The Case

Everything wrong with the plastics industry, in one product

When scientists raise concerns about plastic, they are talking about two separate things at once: what it does to human and environmental health, and what it does to a town's resilience, its pollution burden, and its capacity to sustain itself. Artificial turf sits squarely in the middle of both.

01

It is unnecessary. Natural grass exists, works, and is what professional athletes say they prefer.

02

It is made from fossil fuels. A petrochemical product installed in the name of recreation contributes to the warming it cannot withstand.

03

It is not climate resilient. It creates heat islands where a living field would cool the air around it.

04

It is made with chemicals known to harm people — PFAS among them, present in the manufacturing process and in the finished product.

05

It contaminates the environment with microplastics as the blades break down, continuously, for the life of the field.

06

It is not recyclable. Which brings us to the part of the sales presentation that tends to get skipped.

What Happens at the End

Nobody has an answer for the disposal question

Every field installed today is a field somebody has to get rid of in about a decade.

Asked at a public meeting how many synthetic fields have been recycled in the United States, an industry representative answered:

“None.”

New Jersey's own environmental agency reached the same conclusion in writing. Its 2023 technical memorandum notes that while there is some advocacy for recycling artificial turf at end of life, no known facility actually performs the process — and that PFAS is released both during manufacture and during decomposition in a landfill. Read the NJDEP memorandum →

So the fields go somewhere else. Kyla Bennett, science policy director at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, has described retired fields being shipped overseas and dumped in Pennsylvania fields and in Maryland and Massachusetts wetlands. She says she knows of no one disposing of them properly, because “it cannot be done properly.” Bucks County Courier Times →

What the Health Authorities Say

This is not a fringe position

Pediatric environmental health researchers, medical associations, and state agencies have all published on this product. Their conclusions are strikingly consistent.

Mount Sinai Children's Environmental Health Center

The Center “strongly discourages” installing artificial turf playing surfaces and fields, citing unresolved uncertainty about the safety of these products and the potential for dangerous heat and chemical exposures. Given the direction of federal PFAS regulation, it argues that installing PFAS-containing surfaces now is short-sighted. — Sarah Evans, PhD, MPH, Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Read the letter to Montclair in full →

Santa Clara County Medical Association Policy recommendation

Recommends replacing artificial turf with natural turf for high school sports. Full article →

Dr. Philip J. Landrigan Testimony

Lead was found at levels high enough that several New Jersey synthetic fields had to be closed by the State Department of Health. Landrigan notes that brain injury is the gravest consequence of pediatric lead poisoning, that young children are most vulnerable because of rapid brain development and hand-to-mouth behavior, and that even low-dose exposure can cost IQ, attention span, and school performance.

National Center for Health Research Dr. Diana Zuckerman, President

Roughly three tons of infill migrate off each field annually into surrounding grass, water, and homes, carrying additives such as PAHs, flame retardants, and UV inhibitors that are toxic to aquatic life. Organically managed natural grass does the opposite work: dissipating heat, cooling nearby buildings, protecting groundwater, biodegrading pollutants, reducing runoff, abating noise, and cutting glare.

New Jersey DEP Technical memoranda, 2022 & 2023

Two memoranda: one on synthetic turf's effects on stormwater and flood resilience and its potential for heat island and heat-stress effects, and one on PFAS in artificial turf.

Letter to Montclair & Essex County National Center for Health Research

Written to New Jersey officials here in Montclair and at the County, on the harms from artificial turf. This one is about our fields.

Natural grass is “a safer, softer, more reliable surface” to send kids out to play on.

Abby Wambach

In Montclair

The case for a moratorium

Twenty-one healthy mature oaks came down at Woodman Field to make room for one artificial turf baseball field. Sustainable Montclair advocates for reducing and eliminating artificial turf in Montclair, and has called for a moratorium while the town takes stock of what it already has, what it costs to remove, and where it goes afterward.

Read our op-ed in the Montclair Local →

In the News

Other towns are having this argument too

As Climate Change Fears Grow, a Real Fight Over Fake Turf

A city's decision to swap real grass for a synthetic version sets off a conflict over the environmental and health risks of the move.

New York Times

Scotch Plains and Westfield voters reject turf field projects

Opponents cited cost, environmental concerns, and the change to the character of the park. Both referenda failed.

MyCentralJersey

‘Our community has been deceived’: turf wars mount over PFAS

Testing by a local advocacy group found organic fluorine in the field — an indicator of possible PFAS content.

Politico / E&E News
The Library

Read it yourself

Independent, scientifically sound sources. No industry material.

Start here — position statements & agency findings Reporting & opinion PFAS & toxicity Injury & athlete safety Plastic, pollution & disposal Solutions — natural grass is viable Webinars & video

Sustainable Montclair · sustainablemontclair@gmail.com · Montclair, New Jersey
An independent environmental advocacy organization. Not affiliated with the Township of Montclair. Sources on this page are independent of the synthetic turf industry; where a finding is contested, the underlying study or agency memorandum is linked so readers can evaluate it directly.

“PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” which are used in the artificial turf manufacturing process and are present in the finished product, are linked to a range of serious health consequences including reproductive disorders, thyroid dysfunction and cancers.

There is no “safe” level of exposure to benzene, PFAS or lead: all have negative health consequences at every level and children playing on artificial turf are exposed to all of them. “ - Dr. Philip Landrigan & Brita Lundberg

“Natural Grass is a safer, softer, more reliable surface to send kids out to play on”

- Abby Wombach

Question: “ Can you tell me how many synthetic fields have been recycled in the United States?”

Industry Rep Answer: “None.”

“The release of PFAS during the manufacturing of this material together with the release of PFAS during the decomposition in a landfill should also be considered. Although there is some advocacy for recycling this material at end-of-life, there are currently no known facilities that will perform this process for artificial turf.” - NJ DEP