Inside New York’s turf war over artificial grass

Penny-pinching New York city planners have been pitched against nature lovers as they fight back against the creeping replacement of grass with astroturf.

In a city where green space is at a premium, many of the Big Apple’s residents want to ban the fake stuff altogether.

Artificial turf — featuring a plastic layer that is made to look like grass filled in with recycled tyres — has become more and more common as park officials look for cheaper and easier-to-maintain alternatives to the real thing.

But astroturf contains polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals”, that only break down very slowly, accumulating in the body over time if consumed. The substance has become the subject of scrutiny in recent years, with some studies linking it to a number of serious health issues. In 2022, Boston banned the use of artificial turf.

Christopher Marte, a council member for Manhattan, plans to introduce legislation called the “Touch Grass” bill this week that seeks to ban the use of plastic grass in city parks, the first of its kind in New York.

“The last bit of Manhattan, they had to cover it with plastic. They could not leave it alone,” complained Mossimo Strino, a Manhattan resident. His park in Inwood, on the northern tip of Manhattan, is one of those set to lose its lush and grassy waterfront football fields for a synthetic one made of tufted nylon and coated silica sand.

The city already has at least 221 synthetic turf fields in public parks.

City officials could not say how many pounds of plastic this equated to, but on average, an 80,000 sq ft field contains 18 tonnes of plastic carpeting and 180 tonnes of infill, according to Beyond Plastics, a non-profit group aimed at eliminating plastic waste.

Nyah Estevez, community organiser at Beyond Plastics, describes parks as the “backyards” of New Yorkers. “We shouldn’t look at grass as this replaceable thing,” she said. “It’s a natural part of our environment.”

Eric Goldstein, an environmental lawyer, said: “When even there’s any doubt about whether something is hazardous to our health and an environmental threat, we ought to err on the side of caution and get that out of exposing our kids to those kinds of materials.” He recommended a solution: “It’s called grass!”

Turf has become popular because it requires less maintenance than grass.

However, critics say that astroturf is expensive to install and damages easily. New York city councils spent nearly $10 million over seven years to repair damaged turf citywide.

Its synthetic materials also trap heat during the summer, raising surface temperatures to as much as 15C higher than the actual air temperature.

The parks department said it would review Marte’s bill after its introduction to the city council on Thursday.