To spread awareness of the toxicity of plastic grass?

[DataNotLore]

Here: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35948114/#:~:text=Numerous%20studies%20have%20shown%20that,%2C%20mutagens%2C%20and%20endocrine%20disruptors.

Not only is it bad for the environment but it's probably bad for your health too.

The issues are still being investigated, but:

"Numerous studies have shown that chemicals identified in artificial turf, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are known carcinogens, neurotoxicants, mutagens, and endocrine disruptors."

I could write you a full paper if you like on how this all ties into human health, but its obvious from me you fail to grasp how anthropogenic actions like installing fake grass directly affects our ecosystems and how they directly affect us and how were are dependant on ecosystems for our very own existence.

I'm glad you brought up invertebrates as thought they are an environmental issue and not related directly to our health or existence. FYI Insects and other invertebrates make up 94% of the world’s fauna, the UK alone support nearly 40,000 invertebrate species.

Every single one play a central role in all ecosystem services, pollination of crops ,wildflowers, soil creation, dispersal of seeds, recycling nutrients, natural carbon capture, creating clean water bodies and control pest species and they also assist in wider environmental areas, such as raw materials, flood defence, recreation, carbon storage and even provisions for creating clean atmospheric oxygen supplies.

With out these species there would be no food, no medicines, no clean water etc. The toxicity from plastic lawns also affects all these species and deprives them on habitat and affects their reproductive ability and survivability, which directly impacts all life including humans.

Loss of habitat and pollution is a number of cause of the loss of bee`s, but not fury bumble bees you most likely think of, 90% of the species of the bees in the UK are solitary bees with an estimated 250 species of solitary bee in the uk, that have seen a 52% decline in recent decades (PS Plastic lawns prevent them from mining in the ground and the chemicals releases and Nano plastics also affect them.

Claiming "Injecting stuff into a chicken egg is a totally different scenario." Just proves how scientifically dethatched you are from how every single part of this is tied together and important, Ignorance is bliss I guess.

The bio-accumulation of all the chemicals, micro and nano plastics from plastic lawns and the degradation and destruction they cause to underlying soils they sit upon which can house upto 10,000's of species of bacteria, fungi, amoebae, flagellates, other protozoa, nematodes, earthworms and microscopic insects, all factors into ecology and how ultimately they make our life's far more unhealth and unsustainable.

So to dismiss all this is pure uneducated, ignorance.

It is so depressing. Sharing your outside space with other beings is such a simple and easy thing to do. I can't imagine sitting out on fake grass with fake plants is pleasurable. What's the point?

I was pregnant during lockdown 1 so didn’t go outside at all. I stuck to walking circles in the garden and completely wore away the grass. Turned into a big circle of mud.

Also we don’t have bins for garden waste, we have to pay extra to have it collected and it stopped being collected during lockdown. So my DH decided to get turf down.

@chupachucks actual evidence and explanations of mechanisms matters.

waving your hands vaguely about ecological effects is not useful.

Especially if people are going to imply and scaremonger about harming foetal or infant development with no actual evidence in humans. Because injecting chemicals into a chicken’s egg is not the same as people occasionally walking on fake grass.

Proper, detailed, evidenced discussion of environmental effects is important. Especially if we want to drive meaningful change.

Really? What's the point?
I'm not the most imaginative person but I can still understand that, for some people, sitting outside regardless of whether it's real of fake grass can still be pleasurable.

I've lived in lots of different houses all with very different gardens and environments and I've still managed to find pleasure in sitting outside.

@IncomingTraffic I could write you full papers on a very wide variety of habitats and how a who range of species are affected in various ways backed up with scientific papers, but this is a public chat forum and I'm 100% next to no one is going to read it all.

Ecology is a science in its self, so to say its easy to break it down into chunks and provide more than vague explanations is quite disingenuous and dismissive of the subject. As I've said to others if you wish to dispute the science I provide feel free, but when people trying to defect from the science is not worth my time discussing with them any further.

Astro turf?

I would have bought grass seed and walked in a zig zag instead. Or round the block. Th we r was a bit of a heatwave in lockdown 1 wasn't there, grad would've come up lovely I would have thought.

We don't have a green bin either. We have a compost heap.

There's some info here about "turf burn" plastic grass safety and relative costs plus alternative solutions to fake plastic grass:

capabilitycharlotte.com/TimeForTurf%20Artificial%20Grass%20Report.pdf

Seriously one of the crappest reasons ever for plasticking over your garden.

And again - I do not know anyone who has a special bin for garden waste so another crap reason.

Yes isn't a special bin for garden waste actually a compost heap? Or bin. Local authorities often give these away. We had one when we lived in Richmond, and one here in Cornwall.

I once booked an Airbnb where the entire “garden” was actually plastic. All the plants in pots, the trailing Ivy, the hedge, the lawn, the furniture. It was so grim and nightmarish and depressing, at a very stressful time, that I walked straight out again and paid to stay somewhere else, with an actual tiny garden full of greenery and birds and smelling wonderful, just to be able to sit outside in with my coffee early in the morning .

Ditto this...

I had grass when I moved in, soon disappeared. 3 attempts to put down/grow a new lawn. 3 failures due to the developer using my garden as a dumping ground for the developments rubble, tiles, old sinks etc. Couldn't grow a decent lawn without taking up at least 6 feet of rubble.
Have now had mine for about 15 years and it was the best £3k I think i've spent. It's only about 15m2 but my two kids over the years have loved it rather than playing on one big mud patch.
And do you know what? If I moved somewhere else with a similar sized lawn, I might just do the same again. It gives you more options and you get a lot more use out of it year round, so there! 😜

We have these great big, reusable canvas bags for garden waste. They get collected every Monday and the empty bags thrown bag over the wall into your garden. Most households get 3 of these bags each...

Couldn't grow a decent lawn without taking up at least 6 feet of rubble

Lol.

Like you’d have to dig down 6 foot and replace all that with soil before grass could grow. Course you would.

The prep to lay your plastic grass properly took more work than making it suitable for turf or seed.

If you can't have a lawn, have something else like a flower bed or even some stone, just don't put this monstrosity on the ground.

There really is no need for it

I might start claiming my badly kept, weedy lawns are deliberately so for the sake of biodiversity.

I've actually found a huge patch of clover on my neglected front lawn.

And do you know what? If I moved somewhere else with a similar sized lawn, I might just do the same again. It gives you more options and you get a lot more use out of it year round, so there! 😜

You sound lovely.

All about your convenience, never mind any consequences

Hardly!

Take old 'lawn' up. One course of sharp sand, a layer of perforated membrane to stop weeds (although one or two still get through) and to allow water through (so no, no flooding) and then the fake lawn.

We grew a lawn in a couple of inches of topsoil in a shallow children's sandpit once.

My sister still does it for her Guinea pigs.

The glee with which posters with plastic 'lawns' post and all of the 'no fucks given' attitude is bizarre. It makes me sad as gardens can be such a haven for wildlife and insects and they need all the help that they can get.

Round here people hammer in twee little Etsy signs "For The Bees 🐝 "

For those who are genuinely interested at giving nature a home and you have ground you think is not suitable, there is an interesting link you may like.

There is a lot of misconception around regarding waste ground and brown field sites.

https://www.buglife.org.uk/resources/habitat-hub/brownfield-hub/

Stuff lives in pebbles and that doesn't it? Insects and that. Bloody dandelions'll grow through concrete tbh.

I moved into a house which has it and thought ok cool no mowing chores for me but actually it's a pain to keep sycamore and other seedlings from rooting in it so am interested in how much effort to remove and put a proper lawn in. A lot I think and as I'll be selling next year probs not worth it for us.