Artificial grass is something that seems to be getting more and more popular around the world. In all honesty, I cannot understand the reasoning why anyone would want this strange product anywhere near their garden or wider landscape.

What is it and what is it made from?

Artificial grass is a man made product that is made to look exactly like natural, and perfect, grass. The actual fibres are made of various forms of grass like polyethylene and polypropylene, along with an underside of some sort of rubber product. Between these blades is either sand or balls of rubber (do remember this bit, you will see why soon). to keep those blades standing up nicely.

Why is it a popular thing to have?

I can see the advantages of the stuff, according to the advertising blurb that manufacturers come out with. I’ll go through some of those ‘advantages’ that are stated and then tell you why these things are really a load of old rot.

• The first two things that probably get most people hooked is the no mowing or watering of a real grass lawn. Both are an important considerations. We are all busy, so time not spent mowing and watering is great. BUT-this stuff still needs cleaning. Birds, pets or animals can still do their business on artificial turf, along with other stuff collecting on there like spilled drinks or food. With the cleaning, you still need to use water to do so. How much is saved depends on how much you watered your garden and how much cleaning you do. So, the no mowing or watering is not a benefit as other jobs replace it.
• Chemical use is also touted as a benefit. Again, this is something that is not really a benefit-let me explain. The ‘perfect lawn’ is an outdated concept with no place in today’s world of mixed up weather and a lack of time for most people to gain a perfect lawn without chemical use. Factor in kids and pets running around and causing mischief, then perfect lawns won’t happen. There is also the matter chemical use on lawns anyway-if you are, why? You can manage a lawns condition if you learn how to do so without chemicals, it just takes more time. If you don’t have the time, chemicals are only going to cause more problems in the future-probably to further increase use of others in the future too-where does that end?
• One thing I read did make me laugh, I have to say. One benefit claimed has said that grass won’t get dragged into the house with artificial grass. Very true. Remember that I told you about the sand and bits or rubber above-they do get dragged into! When my son’s school installed som artificial turf ten years ago, he brought shoe-loads of the black rubber balls home every day. Really annoying! Null and void claim right there-you are replacing one chore with another-I’d rather have grass.
• This is an interesting on-the idea that using artificial turf is better for the environment. This just highlights the illiteracy of people about the environment. This claim is related to no mowing and no water or chemical use-see the above points again. The materials used to produce astroturf are hard, if not impossible to recycle, so end up in landfill. There are several other environmental disadvantages that I will discuss further below.

It is probably quite clear by now that I don’t like this stuff at all. Just to get the point across, here are some more negatives. They are points about how environmentally damaging this stuff actually is, showing that it isn’t actually ‘good for the environment’.

• Wildlife free area. In an artificial grass zone, there is no food available for wildlife, no access to soil for burrowing insects or the surface for soil dwellers-leaf litter, grass clippings, etc provide these soil dwellers with food artificial grass does not. Do not say that insects, worms and the like are ‘disgusting’ or ‘creepy’ or any other clap trap-you wouldn’t be alive today without them. It’s that simple.
• Let’s talk temperatures. Artificial grass gets far hotter than natural grass. One website I read stated that artificial grass can get as hot as asphalt-are you really going to be using it at that temperature? Are you also happy to have higher energy costs, as your house will absorb some of that extra heat too?
• When this delightful stuff breaks down, chemicals and microplastics enter the environment-we really don’t need any more unnecessary plastic or chemicals out there in the big wide world.
• It is also expensive and needs replacing. While costs will vary by country and area, having to repeat this expense in 15-20 years (the current best life span I could find for current products), is it something you want to do?

I have a few more things to say. Real plants, including real grass, absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen (that we breathe) and water. This water evaporates and cools things down as it does do-including the wider environment. Better for us, better for the local environment. Add to this, real grass, and the soil beneath it, absorbs water which helps to reduce stormwater run-off. Artificial grass doesn’t do any of that.

In a previous job, I had to go to a childcare centre weekly to maintain the ‘gardens’. The main job here was to ‘clean’ the artificial turf. This was the worst part of my week-it took two hours sometimes to remove the excess sand from the artificial grass (the extra sand was from a sandpit which was the ‘wrong sort of sand’ to be between the artificial grass blades, thus clogging up the artificial turf to a solid matt of sand and nothing else). As it always looked disgusting, there were always complaints,especially after rain. Soft fall would have been far better and a cleaner, softer surface for pre-school kids to play on.

If you have got this far, I won’t repeat what I have already said about why this stuff is an environment disaster. I will instead offer some advice. When considering your options, look at different sorts of grass for your lawn. There are grasses that have been bread to cope better with certain conditions. There are also so many other plants that can be used like grass too. If you want to have a hard surface, use something like ‘permeable paving’, so that at least water can drain away when it rains.

I also want people to do their research. Look into claims made by companies, not just for artificial turf, but for anything you don’t know much about. The internet is a great tool for this. After doing this research, I would hope that you would choose something other than artificial turf, but if you do choose to use it at least you will be better informed.