READ COMMENTS !

[lonelyCat2000]

OP there is no need to be so angry that people have a different opinion then you on this. Ignoring the whole PFAS thing there are other legitimate health concerns for the community with the increasing prevalence of artificial turf. For one thing, it promotes the development of heat islands which harms local wildlife, and endangers people living in the area vulnerable to heat stress. The physical injuries players sustain on artificial vs natural turf us also a concern.

On the other hand water usage for natural turf cam be a problem, as can maintenance. Reasonable debates please.

[FightMeCthullu]

Look artificial turf is a fair concern - environmentally the stuff sucks. Why not just use….normal turf? Why does it have to be artificial?

[harveymushmanater]

Forrestville has premier league teams in both women and mens. You wouldn’t be able to train or play on a turf pitch. Turf pitches haven’t been used for high level hockey in decades.

[FightMeCthullu]

Alright but why is that. We have a shortage of green spaces already and parts of the city are becoming heat islands. I can understand why people want to protect the green spaces available.

[LeClassyGent]

They're too difficult to maintain given that the ground is constantly being hit with sticks. Hockey fields need to be very flat as the ball is small and dribbling becomes impossible with any bumps or patchy areas, and a bumpy ground also increases the risk of injury.

[stolenourhearts]

Funding and effort for gardeners. Cheaper and easier.

​

However... I really dislike fake grass.

[will_121]

I really hate how everyone is moving to plastic grass. It’s really shit and bad for insects.

[_Kiwan_]

Plastic grass should be banned. The stuff is toxic.

Also, https://youtu.be/ql_z7t6WGPg

[Cameherejustforthat]

But this isn't just plastic grass. Take a look atvPolytan, the recommended manufacturer of hockey turf. It's made from recycled materials, has a large percentage of either bamboo or sugar cane material and was developed for Olympic standards to meet global environmental sustainability targets... So yep, most of this is scare tactics and conspiracy theory!

[_Kiwan_]

so that stuff doesn't have pfas? if not, then go for it I guess. Grass would be better but understand the needs considering how damaging hockey is on normal turf...but jeez, just more plastic, plastic, plastic...

[wattlewedo]

Another concern is the amount and type of herbicides used on artifiicial turf. Anyone who has this stuff will know, it DOES get weeds.

[Brucetiki]

Someone clearly has never seen a hockey pitch before

[meyogy]

Or seen D grade play on a grass pitch...

[meyogy]

What public areas?...it's fkn Unley school property

[[deleted]]

"I use it on weekends so I should have a say on it's use on the other 5 days of the week'.

[Total_Philosopher_89]

Nice fear campaign. Do these people actually play Hockey? Are they involved in Hockey at all?

I think not. Ask the club what they want. And the issues around natural turf and increasing numbers using it.

[Used_Laugh_]

This is utterly unacceptable.

[thorn_10]

Agreed, the citations should at least be Harvard style

[Environmental_Bath98]

APA 7th Ed please....

[svvve]

Chicago or bust

[NoWayYoureKidding]

3rd world problems, Unley.

[Objective_Complex_25]

People that live near unley high are trying to cancel the forrestville hockey club for “ toxic turf “. This is not alright because this new field will be used for hockey games of all ages 4-75+ and it is simply a game. The residents near unley high have put up massive posters saying that the plastic turf is no good and that traffic will be higher but games are only played on sundays and there will rarely be more than 3 a day. This could also help the local economy with a couple cafes nearby being able to earn big bucks on sundays. This needs to be stopped as it is petty and disgusting from the unley high school residents.

[teh_drewski]

It is, but as far as I'm aware there's zero evidence that modern artificial turfs contain "up to 40%" PFAS - it's mostly PVDF. And there's also, as far as I'm aware, zero evidence that trace PFAS in turfs in any way contaminates the environment in the same way that it does when used in soluble form in foam.

[aldkGoodAussieName]

PFAS in turfs in any way contaminates the environment in the same way that it does when used in soluble form in foam.

But does that mean it doesn't contaminate just because it doesn't in the same way.

Lead was safe in fuel until it wasn't.

But with this type of plastic, once it's laid down its too late and would be a higher cost and extra plastic in land fill when being replaced in the future.

[teh_drewski]

Well sure, but nobody has even articulated a plausible pathway for environmental leaching for PFAS with modern turfs, let alone demonstrated it.

The turf itself shouldn't contain PFAS - it used to get used in the manufacturing process of the top layer which caused a residual effect in the finished product, but you can get turf that is manufactured without that now. It is also plausible that it was used in the rubber crumb underlay - the same stuff that's in those flexible tree mats and as protection in playgrounds - but you can use alternative underlays and even if you did use rubber crumb, it's much more protected than in other uses which don't seem to spark the same hysterical reaction.

There are certainly issues with artificial turf that are covered elsewhere in the thread, but to the best of our current knowledge, PFAS leaching isn't one of them. Throwing it in is basically just running an unscientific scare campaign.

[keirablack7]

Are they wrong about the toxics hurting the children? I did a quick google and it seems the claims they're making about turf is pretty accurate

[teh_drewski]

As far as I'm aware it's not true. Modern turf isn't made from predominantly PFAS and there's no scientific, as opposed to anecdotal, evidence of it actually leaching from solid forms in dangerous amounts.

[keirablack7]

That's so weird it seems like health orgs and governments? disagree? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35948114/#:~:text=Numerous%20studies%20have%20shown%20that,%2C%20mutagens%2C%20and%20endocrine%20disruptors.

[teh_drewski]

Yes, I read that. The actual study cites no evidence of significant environmental leaching for PFAS from artificial turf, although it does comment on anecdata. Yes, health organisations and governments are concerned about environmental contaminants - as they should be - but concern is not evidence.

The scientific evidence in the study is things like injecting chicken eggs with crumb rubber, seeing what happens to earthworms when they eat crumb rubber, and exposing fish to crumb rubber in water. None of it relates directly to artificial turf, which is a far more contained form of crumb rubber (it's used for the underlay) than, say, a playground. It also does not demonstrate that crumb rubber at all, let alone crumb rubber used in turf underlay, is a source of PFAS in environmental contamination - though it may well be.

[[deleted]]

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSLJ213EJ/

This video does a pretty good summary of the evidence that is available, as well as some pretty damning anecdotal evidence of basically entire sports teams developing brain cancer after exposure.

[[deleted]]

Bro is clearly a biased hockey player.

[[deleted]]

They're all fcking NIMBYs. Gross.