A study published in Basel has shown that some types of rubber can pass the test if exposed to the reagent for 24 hours, but if the test is extended to 21 days, the amount of zinc released into the water exceeds 2.5 times the maximum value set by the WHO. What would happen if the 21-day test published in Basel was applied?
Zinc is a chemical element that has various applications, including that in rubber. In particular, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) is a compound that is used in the production of tires because it acts as a vulcanization activator and as a reinforcing agent in elastomers. Therefore, during the recycling of old tires to create the filling granules for synthetic fields, zinc can remain present.
When the rubber from tires is granulated, its surface increases significantly, considerably increasing the possibility of zinc release. Recently, laboratory analyses of rubber wasted and sand removed from older synthetic grass fields have shown high amounts of zinc, leading to a classification of product into HP14.
These evidences contradict the current marketing rules for end-of-life tires, as at purchase suppliers are able to provide "eco-compatibility certificates" which is paradoxical, and worthy of more consideration.
Rubber pellets have a costly disposal
For now, we can only make conjectures since we are not waste management experts, but it indeed appears possible that there may be differences in test protocols, between those used for the purchase of rubber granules from tires and those for their disposal because the latter are more regulated. If this were the case, it would be necessary to standardize test protocols to ensure truly comparable results.
If the 21-day exposure test to the reagent, published in Basel in May 2022, were to be applied during the purchase of the rubber, it would be discovered that the rubber in question does not exceed the safety limits for zinc release as initially thought. This could have major implications for the safety and health of synthetic grass fields and might necessitate research and the adoption of safer alternatives to rubber.
Indeed, if the 21-day exposure test to the reagent, published in Basel in May 2022 were to be applied to the purchase of rubber, it would be discovered that the rubber in question does not exceed the safety limits for the release of zinc as initially thought. This could have major implications for the safety and health of synthetic grass fields and may require research and adoption of safer alternatives to recycled rubber used as filler.At the present stage, it is certain that the cost for the disposal of rubber filler removed from synthetic grass fields has tripled compared to 2020. This increase is also due to the recent ban on exporting plastic waste to countries without an adequate waste management protocol.The risk to the players' healthAccording to a 2017 study published by Elsevier, exposure to zinc can cause a variety of health problems, including dermatitis, inflammation of the respiratory tract, and, in some circumstances, immune system dysfunctions [1]. Therefore, there might be a risk that players who frequently use synthetic soccer fields might be exposed to harmful levels of zinc.However, not everything is so simple. An extensive research conducted by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has concluded that "the risks of cancer are very low" and that "it is not necessary to impose a ban on tire rubber granulate" [2]. A 2014 Battelle study also found that there is a large safety margin regarding exposure to zinc for players on synthetic fields [3].Therefore, the current corpus of research does not offer definitive or universally accepted conclusions. Some studies suggest potential health damage from the interference of zinc present in tire rubber, while others indicate that the risk is negligible. As a result, there is an urgent research issue with results that do not justify alarmism but require continuous investigations and vigilance.[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969716323246[2] https://echa.europa.eu/hot-topics/artificial-turf[3] https://ceint.duke.edu/media/news/many-questions-little-great-risk-zinc-pollution-tires
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