Hälsa och miljö

As the final part of a Europe-wide study on the risk from synthetic turf infill consisting of rubber granules derived from end-of-life tyres (ELT), exposure of sportspeople was assessed and compared with health-based reference values for various chemical substances. Based on information from previous project phases, exposure scenarios were established and exposure was calculated for oral, dermal and inhalation routes. Calculated cancer risks for exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were below 1:1 million. Risk characterisation ratios (RCRs) for non-carcinogenic substances were below 1, indicating no health concerns. For 2-hydroxybenzothiazole no toxicological data were found from which to derive a substance-specific reference value. A threshold-of-toxicological concern approach revealed maximum RCRs slightly above 1, which are acceptable, given the conservativism of the approach. ERASSTRI substantially improved the data available for assessing human health risks from using ELT-derived infill material. Overall, no health concerns could be identified for the use of synthetic turfs with ELT-derived infill material.

The production of granulates as infll for artifcial turf is able to process 21% of the end-of-life tyres in Europe, approximately 600 million kg per year. In doing so it avoids an annual CO2 emission comparable with the amount that could be absorbed by around 30 km2 of forest. However, dispersal of rubber infll to the environment is perceived as a problem.

An amount of 3000–5000 kg granulate per feld per year is currently used as underpinning for a European proposal to ban rubber infll as part of the intended restriction on intentionally added microplastics in 2021. By reviewing grey research reports, we found out that the dispersal rates are based on the false assumption that the annual granulate demand for reflling is necessary because of granulate losses to the environment. However, it has been ignored that part of the refll is needed because the infll layer settles and becomes more dense (compaction) and that part of the lost infll is collected and reused on the felds. In combination with unawareness and improper piling of snow in the past, these are the causes of the high estimates of infll dispersal per year.

This paper shows the current state of-knowledge about ELT granulate dispersal and shows that approximately 600–1200 kg refll is required annually to compensate for compaction and for some infll waste on pavements and in drainage sinks. Recommended mitigation measures are containment through optimized feld and drainage construction, suitable maintenance equipment and practices and good-housekeeping rules for players and groundkeepers and handling end-of-life pitches. If these recommendations are implemented, the emission of ELT granulates to the environment can be reduced to virtually zero.

Rapporten beställdes av European Synthetic Turf Council (ESTC) i syfte att bedöma effektiviteten av riskhanteringsåtgärder för att minimera risken för fyllnadsmigration från idrottsgrenar av syntetiska gräs till närliggande naturmiljö. Rapporten har utarbetats av Tech licentiate Simon Magnusson och Tech Dr Josed Mácsik från EcoLoop. 

Besök gärna ESTC för fler rapporter på temat 

En Holländsk utvärdering om det finns hälsorisker med att sporta på anläggningar med gummigranulat. Analyser av innehåll och därefter beräkningar på exponeringsscenarier och bedömning av hälsorisken. Man konstaterar att det är säker att sporta på planer med gummigranulat från återvunna däck.

Surfaces for sports areas - Synthetic turf sports facilities

Guidance on how to minimize infill dispersion into the environment

 "Microfibers are ubiquitous contaminants of emerging concern. Traditionally ascribed to the “microplastics” family, their widespread occurrence in the natural environment is commonly reported in plastic pollution studies, based on the assumption that fibers largely derive from wear and tear of synthetic textiles. By compiling a global dataset from 916 seawater samples collected in six ocean basins, we show that although synthetic polymers currently account for two-thirds of global fiber production, oceanic fibers are mainly composed of natural polymers. µFT-IR characterization of ~2000 fibers revealed that only 8.2% of oceanic fibers are synthetic, with most being cellulosic (79.5%) or of animal origin (12.3%). The widespread occurrence of natural fibers throughout marine environments emphasizes the necessity of chemically identifying microfibers before classifying them as microplastics. Our results highlight a considerable mismatch between the global production of synthetic fibers and the current composition of marine fibers, a finding that clearly deserves further attention"

En utvärdering gjord av Arbets- och miljömedicin Syd om det finns hälsorisker med att sporta på anläggningar med gummigranulat. Man konstaterar att det inte föreligger någon hälsorisk med att idrotta på planer av konstgräs eller fallskyddgummi tillverkad att återvunnet gummi.

 Med rätt åtgärder kan spridningen av mikroplaster från konstgräsplaner med gummigranulat minskas radikalt. Det visar resultaten från en omfattande studie i Kalmar, där man för första gången genomfört kontinuerliga mätningar från en fotbollsplan under ett år. Det handlar om cirka 100 gram som sprids till vatten, varav cirka 10 procent kan vara gummigranulat.