Crumb Rubber In Astroturf

Crumb Rubber In Astroturf

Picture of person running on astroturf field and crumb

rubber jumping out of the grass. Click here for the image source.

When I play baseball and when I used to play at soccer camps, I noticed these fields made up of artificial grass and crumb rubber. I noticed while playing and watching that every time somebody stepped, slide, kick, or made some kind of frictions with this grass, little black rubber pellets would spray up from the ground to the air and fall back down. My first time playing on astroturf it was in the middle of the summer and I was in Maryland for a baseball tournament. I remember sliding into second base and feeling a burning sensation in my arm. I looked down and my arms was red and starting to bleed. That was not the only problem, It felt like it was two- hundred degrees. According to my own experience, the  little black rubber crumbs absorb heat and can make the whole field one-hundred degrees hotter then what the temperature is. I want to learn about all of the problems with this crumb rubber, find all of the solutions and substitutes to each problem because I know their needs to be something done.

This topic matters to me because crumb rubber in astroturf is a little substance that is always overlooked and not thought of. When humans play on these crumb rubbers, it is risking their body and health. Over thousands of kids play on astroturf fields with crumb rubbers in them every day and many of these people are not aware of the risks of playing on these fields.

Zoomed in picture of the many crumb rubbers in the artificial grass.Click here for the image source.

The majority of fields consist of natural dirt and grass which take many hours to maintain. This job is extremely hard, having to watch over it, make sure not to many

people are using it, cutting the grass at a constant rate, making sure the dirt is clean and even, and so on. Many field owners are either giving up on these natural fields, limiting a place for kids and other people to have fun being outside, or trying to find a substitute to the fields. Even though astro turf costs a ton of money, after many years it becomes equal to all of the hours spent fixing the field and buying different materials to maintain the field with. I want kids to have the opportunity to go outside and play on these beautiful clean fields. If all of the fields are in good conditions, it is a great site to see but when people when people stop maintaining and caring about these fields, it is a waste of space and a waste of an opportunity for people to be having fun. I want for everybody to be aware of the possible risks of these crumb rubbers in astroturf and try for a change.

Annotated Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jFkm10hpG_LrnTc7P7ys44l6ixd0LrPOnJrl-Y__u6c/edit