Artificial garden lawns - what a weird world

[Figmentofmyimagination]

Another installed on our street. I just don’t understand it. Why would anyone do this?

There is a petition to ban their sale for installation in residential dwellings if you want to sign it:

It’s only got 5,900 signatures so far, which seems a pretty low number, given how much of a no brainer this is, imo. Maybe that’s just me.

petition deleted by MNHQ as we don't allow them, we're afraid.

It's not necessarily laziness.
We have a lawnmower, we have about 1/4 of an acre of grass that we mow, plus dozens of well established trees, plants/flowers and the entire 'fence' is hedgerow. There's plenty of ecological diversity in our garden. However it's also on multiple levels as it's built into a hill. One of these levels is down a lot of awkward steps and is virtually impossible to get a lawnmower to. It used to be decking but this wasn't suitable for the kids to play on. So we have artificial grass there and it works really well for us in this small area.
I know this is a different situation to people who replace their entire lawn with artificial grass but a blanket ban or tax wouldn't distinguish between people who just can't be bothered to cut the grass and those who cover a small proportion of their garden in it, or those that have such a small garden area that they don't have space to store a lawnmower to cut a tiny bit of grass, but still want some greenery rather than concrete.

I havcent RTFT but artificial grass is not comparable to paving. Lots of paving is permable (ie. gaps between the slabs) which allow water to drain away, and provide a habitat for plants and wildlife. Secondly, when paving is taken up, it can easily be reused elsewhere. Failing that, it goes to the tip where it gets turned into hardcore for the construction industry. Totally different to plastic grass (yuck.)

Just don’t have a plastic lawn. It’s not a huge sacrifice to make. If you really can’t deal with some soil or plants then are plenty of alternatives that aren’t plastic.

😂

I haven’t rtft but the pages I’ve read have been interesting. I have often wondered about having fake grass but this thread has well and truly put me off! I have 2 primary aged kids and a young dog. I like real grass but would love to know how to stop the yellow patches made by the dogs wee! I don’t fancy the idea of dog wee and poo on fake grass.

As I said I'm not here to argue, but yet you refuse to acknowledge that the combined affect of what you call postage stamp gardens, have a very real bioaccumulation of micro plastics, chemicals into the eco-system and water table that over time accumulates in our streams, rivers, oceans and drinking water. You also ignore the fact that you have removed micro climates at a level you cannot see or comprehend, but I guess that's not important to you as you do not see them.

Also your plant pots, raised beds do not offer the same ecological niche as the ground you are covering does, many species especially macro invertebrates live rely on multiple niches and ecotones to survive. So as I said Its not about all the species you observe its all the life you do not.

Obviously reading all your reply's and arguments in this thread you do not fully understand the web of life that make up the biodiversity of soils, flora and fauna. Which is fine but some times it takes a greater person to accept may be they do not understand the full intricacies and affects of your actions.

I have a wheel chair user in my family and I have mobility issues myself, neither of us would consider plastic grass, there are plenty of other options.

They look awful. Fine if you have a miniscule garden that gets no light anyway but some people get dozens of metres of the stuff. Hideous.

Obviously reading all your reply's and arguments in this thread you do not fully understand the web of life that make up the biodiversity of soils, flora and fauna. Which is fine but some times it takes a greater person to accept may be they do not understand the full intricacies and affects of your actions.

Honestly this is just ridiculous. Much of this ground won't be suitable for lovely lush grass in the first place. Biodiversity can be supported in a myriad of ways, micro plastic pollution is coming from all kinds of sources. It really is important to understand this stuff in context rather than just throwing around judgement.

Agree - so bad for the environment. If people don’t want a real lawn there are all kinds of other- more environmentally friendly - options.

You also ignore the fact that you have removed micro climates at a level you cannot see or comprehend, but I guess that's not important to you as you do not see them.

Also, to be clear I don't actually have artificial grass, so there's not much point in making it personal here.

It should be no surprise that covering your garden in plastic is bad for the environment. You know what’s worse though? Digging foundations, filling them with concrete, building on them, then filling that space with carpet/LVT flooring/chemically treated woods/the general ‘stuff’ of human habitation.

The outrage over fake lawns is entirely driven by snobbery. The people I know with plastic lawns could fit their entire house and fake lawn into the footprint of my (not huge) house. Should I lord up my eco credentials over them because my house is surrounded by grass and wildlife? Or do I acknowledge that we’ve both decimated an identically sized patch of land in pursuit of a selfishly comfortable lifestyle?

I’m so tired of poor people being held to higher ecological standards. Especially when their overall annual consumption and carbon footprint tends to be lower than the holier-than-thou people criticising them.

It’s the ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’ poor all over again, except now we’ve substituted the word ‘chav’ for unworthy.

i apologise if this has already been said, but by blood pressure couldn’t survive reading more than the first couple of pages of this thread.

Ridiculous because you don't like the science and lack understanding of the your actions, oh okay good bye.

So one of the top ten ways to look cheap and nasty by spending a lot of money?

Our lawn is really overgrown and we hate mowing so I can see the appeal, but tbh I don't love them. You can generally tell, and they feel weird, and surely bad for the environment? Not for me however tempting now having to mow the lawn again is

It's the next step after plastic lawns. Plastic trees to match the aesthetic. And you shouldn't oppose it anyway if you're ok with plastic lawns, you make it sound like it's so different to artificial grass to have an artificial tree lmao

I friggen loveeee my artifical lawn, no patchy grass, my kids can do out and play without getting covered in mud and it looks great!

I seriously advise you go and get a ligfe and stop worrying about what other people chose to do with their gardens and their money!

I’m so tired of poor people being held to higher ecological standards. Especially when their overall annual consumption and carbon footprint tends to be lower than the holier-than-thou people criticising them.

I don't see it as a money thing, just a shit taste thing. I live in a very middle-class area and they're really prevelant now.

I’m so tired of poor people being held to higher ecological standards. Especially when their overall annual consumption and carbon footprint tends to be lower than the holier-than-thou people criticising them.

This is a really crucial point, I totally agree. See also the outrage on here over things like Christmas Eve boxes. While the foreign holidays, the massive cars, the huge houses, the fancy gadgets all fly under the radar comparatively, because these are naice middle class lifestyle signifiers.

So much of this is just snobbery and feeling superior to the 'chavs'.

Meh, humanity's fucked anyway. We will do stupid shit like this until the planet can no longer support us and then once we are gone something else will come along.

Ridiculous because you don't like the science and lack understanding of the your actions

if you're not actually interested in nuanced debate, then fine. But can you at least concede that there are many ways to support biodiversity beyond a small patch of grass in your garden?

This has nothing to do with money: there are many very wealthy people with a taste for plastic grass. Theirs may be more expensive, but it’s still plastic.

By contrast I have very little money, I still don’t have plastic grass.

Grew up in a notorious part of the UK, known abroad even, in a crappy house. Still care enough to not put plastic over a lawn. Repeating the word snobbery doesn't make it true. Most people who have fake grass seem to be homeowners. Renters aren't asking for permission to install Astro turf, funny enough.

But that’s my point exactly.

Do you see garden rooms, kitchen extensions, houses with more bedrooms than occupants and double garages as ‘shit taste’? Because they all have worse eco credentials? Or have you been primed by internalised snobbery* to only judge those things you see as class related?

*I don’t mean that unkindly - we all have internalised snobbery

I've pointed out many times on MN that no-one "needs" a foreign holiday, that mass tourism is harmful on many levels (socially, economically, culturally, environmentally), as is mass car ownership.

It's not a popular opinion.

And I still stand by the fact that plastic lawns are a shitty environmental choice.