Irvine Considers Coir-Based Artificial Turf for Some Great Park Sports Fields: Recycling and Commissioners Direction to Staff
This is the last article in a five-part series focusing on an Irvine Staff proposal to use a new coir-based artificial turf product on some Great Park sports fields. The series highlights the artificial turf discussion that occurred at the May 8th Sustainability Commission meeting. The May 8th discussion included the pros and cons of using the coir-based artificial turf product. It also included the pros and cons of artificial turf in general for sports fields. The Great Park Board and Irvine City Council are scheduled to decide this issue at the August 13 meetings. The August 13 Great Park meeting starts at 2 pm.
The previous article in this series focused on playing times, maintenance needs, and costs as they relate to using the coir-based artificial turf versus using natural grass turf. This article highlights the discussion at the Sustainability Commission on recycling possibilities and the Sustainability Commission recommendations to regarding using artificial turf verses natural grass for Irvine sports playing fields. This article also provides a recap of the contents in this series on coir-based turf and artificial turf in general for sports fields versus natural turf at Irvine’s Great Park.
Contradictory Statements: Recycling
Following are some of the comments made regarding disposal of coir-based turf.
Speaking in Support
“At the end of its useful life, the synthetic turf being used will be recycled and not sent to landfills.”—Irvine Staff
Staff stated that the coir-based product has an advantage over older artificial turf in that it can and will be recycled. Staff also said that the coir-based fields are predicted to last eight to ten years before they need to be replaced.
Speaking in Opposition
“As others have said and I will reiterate, there is no recycling of this unless you count trying to donate the top two [layers], which is not a good idea.“–Rika Gopinath of Beyond Pesticides Healthy Playing Fields Program
Rika Gopinath of Beyond Pesticides Healthy Playing Fields Program as well as other speakers stated that the coir-based product is not recyclable. Speakers made the following comments: Coir-based artificial turf still contains plastic. This along with the various components of the coir-based turf product would make it difficult to impossible to recycle. In fact, although Staff said that this product can and will be recycled, requiring the manufacturer to recycle this product is not currently part of the contract that Staff is proposing. This means that the artificial turf is likely to be burned, sent to a landfill, or abandoned in an inappropriate location. All of which would pose health and environmental problems.
Photo: Artificial Turf Removal Equipment
Sustainability Commissioners Positions Taken and Direction to Staff
The Great Park Board and Irvine City Council meetings are currently scheduled to hear this issue at the August 13 meetings.
The Sustainability Commission asked Staff to provide the following at the upcoming Great Park and Irvine city council meetings. The Sustainability Commission also asked Staff to provide this information for relevant agenda items that are heard at all upcoming commission meetings.
- Written report documented with full details and references
- MSDS (Safety Data Sheets that summarize health hazards of materials in a product). OSHA requires that chemical manufacturers send this information to purchasers of their products.
- More complete cost analysis. This would include a full cost analysis of maintenance costs, not just replacement cost of synthetic turf. Also, it would include the cost of properly maintained grass sports fields vs artificial turf.
- More information on injury risks, including documented references
- Documented information on heat impacts and temperatures that the artificial turf could reach
- Other options considered more fully, such as fully implementing the Organics First policy
- Analysis of greenhouse gas emissions that include a comparison between natural grass use and the coir-base artificial turf
- CEQA information
- More information on PFAS contamination of water
- Information on microplastics shedding, out gassing, and toxins such as lead
Wrapping Up the Coir-Based Artificial Turf Series
We have come to the conclusion of this five-part series. So, now is a good time to take a look back at the subjects that were cover in this series. They are as follows.
Irvine Considers Coir-Based Artificial Turf for Some Great Park Sports Fields
- Part 1: The Process
- Part 2: PFAS, Toxins, Health Issues
- Part 3: Injury Risks, Field Temperatures, and Water Use
- Part4: Maintenance, Playing Times, Costs
- Part 5: Recycling and Commissioners Direction to Staff
The Irvine City Council is currently scheduled to heard this item at the Great Park Board meeting at 2 pm on August 13. If this topic is of interest to you. consider letting the Irvine City Council Members know your thoughts on this. You can do this by speaking in-person or by Zoom during the public comments portion of the the August 13 Great Park meeting. You can also comment by email.
Photo: The Great Park Sports Complex in Irvine, CA
1 Comments
Sylvia Walker
August 15, 2024 at 12:56 pmUPDATE– The Great Park board voted 4-1 to approve the use of the coir-base artificial turf for four Great Park sports fields. Tammy Kim was all in for the artificial turf. So was Carroll. Agran had many questions, but in the end he was willing to approve the artificial turf for some sports fields with the idea of keeping a close watch on the pro and cons in the coming years. Mostly through the urging of Agran, the replacement of the natural grass on part of the lawn area near the temporary music venue was not approved. Treseder was the one vote against the coir-based turf, but she did not say one word on this–pro or con–during the meeting. Treseder says that since her words would not change the votes of the other city council members and the meeting was going long already, she saw no reason to say anything. However, I would have liked to have heard her on this as well as hear more from the environmental community.
The only Irivne Sustainability Commissioner to speak at the Great Park board meeting was Kev Abazajian, and he spoke against. It was disappointing to not see more sustainability commissioners speak up.
A lot of sports committee members and associates showed up to speak in favor of the artificial turf. The environmental community members did not show up for the most part; however, I doubt that they see the coir-based turf as environmentally sound.
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