COMMENT
are told, whatever the source. And sadly only a few relevant facts ever appear in marketing or even horticultural texts. To address the lack of consumer information, here are just a few quickfire facts about plastic vs real grass:
• Real grass captures CO2. Plastic grass generates colossal CO2 in its manufacture
• Real grass cools the surrounding areas. Plastic grass heats up in hot weather to intolerable temperatures, especially for small children and pets
• Real grass can survive even a summer drought without watering. Plastic grass requires regular hosing down
• Real grass lawns last for many decades! Plastic grass wears out after a few years
• Real grass sustains biodiversity. Plastic grass creates no-go zones for wildlife
Complete information is not just essential, but a consumer right. However, the statement below is from a typical UK plastic grass supplier’s website and the only environment-related comment: “Plus, there’s no watering or feeding required, so it’s kinder to the environment.” Incomplete and misleading, it shows how far the industry falls below this standard:
There is an even more serious topic that is carefully avoided in marketing or related information about plastic grass - the risk it poses to our health.
How plastic grass damages your health
Alongside rising temperatures, the next most serious crisis we battle is air quality. A living grass lawn absorbs pollutants and CO2 from the air and, like any plant, exudes breathable oxygen. Replacing it with plastic grass simply removes this natural - and essential - contributor to our health.
What about humidity? Given the choice, would you rather spend a few summer hours with some natural moisture rising from your feet or baking from the dry heat reflected and generated by the plastics? Your lungs will tell you soon enough if you’re not sure.
Worst of all is a very sinister danger that still does not receive a fraction of the attention it deserves - the use of crumb rubber to dress
artificial sports turf (the same toxic material that all our children are playing on at schools). The idea is that it helps keep the fake grass upright and cushions the blows when you fall. But there are stories of children suffering major health issues from the effects of inhaling this noxious substance made from old car tyres. Yet unsuspecting parents, trusting their local authorities, schools or sports clubs, allow their children to play on this, unaware that the grains caught in clothing and inhaled during play can be extremely dangerous.
All in all, there is very little to condone the use of plastic grass. It was one of those ‘great ideas’ when still at the drawing board, a very profitable convenience solution for our modern times. But now you can see why it should never have left the drawing board. Yet it has, and people are buying it in growing numbers. So what is to be done about it?
We need a remedy based on two parallel lines - conversation and education. The big question is how that conversation and education can be safeguarded from further untruths and manipulations. I have some suggestions.
Industry regulation: It’s obvious. Whenever an industry is found to be falling short of good practice in one way or another, or to be promoting something known to be a threat to health and well-being, some form of regulation is introduced. It might be led from within or imposed eternally; what matters is that we, the consumers, can trust what we are told and make properly- informed choices.
Horticultural/Amenity sector: One huge puzzle is why gardeners have not rallied against this. Responsible gardeners and land managers would no more replace living trees (another vital eco-lung) with plastic imitations than we would replace our herbaceous borders with plastic ones. So why grass? Why is the sector so quiet on this topic?
The scientific community: Research is already underway to evaluate plastic grass for environmental and health risks. But we also need the flip side concerning living
David Hedges-Gower is the UK's leading lawn expert. He has dedicated his life to his love of lawns and his recognition and expertise have put him at the top of the industry today.
David left his job as golf course superintendent at the prestigeous Oxfordshire Golf Club in 2003 and started his own lawn company, Lawn Solutions.
Professional groundspeople, landscape specialists, commercial property developers and leisure gardeners - all have benefitted from David’s enthusiasm and knowledge.
By putting lawn care right at the centre of his own career, David has taken the topic to a new level and created unprecedented access to much-needed expertise.
A regular on BBC Radio and a favourite on the national horticultural lecture circuit.
www.davidhedges-gower.com
grass, the scientifically-robust facts and figures about its environmental benefits or the net carbon footprint - grass as a carbon sink versus the carbon cost of proper turf care.
And what about the Government doing nothing? To be fair, they’ve been busy with other things, but that can no longer be an excuse. And, if we look back with regret in twenty years’ time, it will be we who share the blame.
This is a huge problem that has crept up and will only get worse unless a real and urgent change takes place. So it must go to the top of Government and its agenda for health, sustainability and the environment. To date, a few thousand of those in the know have added their signatures to my petition - but we need hundreds of, not tens of, thousands to sign - and that’s still only a fraction of the Nation of Garden Lovers we claim to be.
We need the full story to get out there, and we need it fast. Without this, we cannot blame the consumer for choosing something that actually destroys the very ecosystem that helps provide a natural solution to the climate emergency.
PC February/March 2020
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