This is some real grassroots protesting.
Dozens of demonstrators flocked to City Hall Thursday to demand an end to the installation of artificial grass fields in city parks — which they say is slowly covering the five boroughs in toxic plastic.
The crowd’s wrath was spurred by the “forever chemicals” from Astroturf-like surfaces they say are infecting the youngest New Yorkers — and the threat it poses to the final remaining native tree forest in Manhattan.
“The last bit of Manhattan, they had to cover it with plastic. They could not leave it alone,” Washington Heights resident Mossimo Strino raged.
Strino’s beloved Inwood Park is in the process of losing a lush and grassy waterfront soccer field for a synthetic one made of tufted nylon and coated silica sand.
The reconstruction was initially welcome by the neighborhood, Strino, 67, recalled — until residents found out it wouldn’t be made of dirt and grass.
The roughly $8,700,000 project involves fixing drainage issues, though the fields lie on a flood plain. Adding microplastics to the flood-prone and natural waterfront area is especially distressing for Strino and neighbors.
“Whenever it rains, that area’s going to get flooded and all the plastic that is being stomped on and broken down into microplastic will end up in the river as well. Same thing is happening for all the pesticides and the disinfectants — the fungicides that they will be spraying and the plastic, that stuff will also be washed into the river,” Strino said.
“Is our spirit worth nothing when we walk in these places?”
There are at least another 221 synthetic turf fields in public parks, not counting spaces maintained by NYCHA or the Department of Education, a representative for the Parks Department confirmed.
The representative could not say how many pounds of plastic this could equate to, but on average, an 80,000-square-foot field contains 40,000 pounds of plastic carpeting and 400,000 pounds of infill, according to Beyond Plastics, a nonprofit aimed at eliminating plastic waste.
Protesters on Thursday rallied to stop future artifical fields from being constructed in the Big Apple, and reflected the goals of a bill Lower East Side Councilmember Christopher Marte is planning to introduce.
It’s not clear why the city has been favoring plastic turf over natural alternatives in recent years. The Parks Department could not answer whether it was more cost effective, but Marte theorized it could come down to the lower maintenance that turf entails.
Synthetic grass, however, is expensive to install, damages easily and needs to be replaced every decade. The city spent nearly $10 million over seven years to repair damaged turf citywide.
Marte’s office noted they were willing to work with the Parks Department to find a cost-effective solution, but not at the cost of the city’s overall health.
The fake grass — typically made from recycled tires — contains various toxic chemicals that are linked to cancers and respiratory issues, particularly polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as “forever chemicals,” according to a 2022 study by the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Synthetic grass also traps heat compared to its natural competitor, raising field temperatures up to 60 degrees higher than natural grass.
“It’s like drinking water out of a plastic container. It’s not what you should do. But if you’re without water, you’re going to drink all of those plastic containers. It is taking away a good and putting up something that is not good,” said Anne Heaney, 81, a West Village resident and former childhood educator.
“It does everything that is not useful that the grass does for us: improves the air, allows for critters. Plastic and astroturf as a play space is not a good thing. Our children deserve safe, green, cool infrastructure.”
