Update: Maine School will Not be Receiving 200+ Tons of Crumb Rubber from WJHS Football Field. Where will it go?

The Parents' Coalition has learned from Sarah Craighead Dedmon the Editor of the Machias Valley News Observer that the school in Maine that was listed as the destination for the 200+ tons of crumb rubber infill removed from the WJHS artificial turf football field will not be receiving the crumb rubber.

MCPS will need to update their plan for the removal of the 200+ tons of crumb rubber removed from the WJHS artificial turf.

Where will it go?

Images from the 200+ tons of crumb rubber removed
from the WJHS artificial turf field. Each bag is 1 ton. 

MCPS Shipping 200+ Tons of Crumb Rubber Infill to Maine School #artificialturf #WJHS #crumbrubber

Half of the 229 one ton bags of crumb rubber removed from the WJHS failed artificial turf field.

WJHS crumb rubber.
Each bag is 1 ton of ground up tires. 

MCPS has now announced what will happen to the 200+ tons of crumb rubber removed from the failed Walter Johnson High School artificial turf football field. 

Most of the 220 tons of crumb rubber will be shipped to Maine where it will be used as infill for a school field in the town of East Machias, Maine.  The school is in a very rural area and serves both private and public school students. 

Walter Johnson High School ... by Parents' Coalition of Montg... on Scribd

Environmental Impacts of Artificial Turf

FIFA, the international football association, were under pressure from their members and the wider public to disclose the environmental impacts of artificial turf pitches. FIFA asked us as an independent technical specialist to carry out a life cycle assessment of different types of artificial turf, and to investigate recycling options.

Our team:

• Carried out ground-breaking research to identify the factors that influence the environmental impact of artificial football turf;
• Carried out research into current recycling options for artificial turf;
• Identified the different recycling technologies available in different parts of the world;
• Compared the environmental impact of different materials, including modelling the impact of a shock pad, and the outcomes of different recycling processes;
• Listed the companies recycling artificial turf on a global basis; and
• Provided specific advice on the best options in a variety of locations across the globe.

Federico Addiechi, Head of Sustainability at FIFA, said:

“FIFA believes we all have a responsibility to protect, cherish and limit our impact on the environment. We take this responsibility seriously and have been engaging with experts to find sensible ways of addressing environmental issues linked to our activities, including climate change and waste accumulation. With the environmental impact study in hand we have a better understanding of the impacts of artificial turf, which will help us, our key stakeholders and hopefully the industry to develop more effective mitigation measures for both end-of-life solutions and future pre-emptive design.”

Eunomia Consultant and Project Manager, Simon Hann said:

“It is fantastic to see FIFA taking the lead on this important issue. With the popularity of artificial turf continuing to grow due to the associated health and social benefits of all year round pitch use it is an important time to highlight key choices that can be made to improve their environmental impact. We have highlighted the increasing concern that there are very few credible recycling routes and as, annually, over 2 million tonnes of artificial turf are predicted to need disposal worldwide by 2020, recyclers, manufacturers and pitch owners must work together to make sure their disposal is not an environmental disaster.”

We apply our life cycle assessment skills to all industries, as well as analysing materials and carrying out modelling across a variety of countries at different stages of economic development.

The report is available to download here.

http://www.eunomia.co.uk/case_study/environmental-impacts-of-artificial-turf/

RMHS Plastic Field Headed to Brunswick, VA Landfill. Thank you Virginia! #artificialturf #makingmemories

8/6/18 Update:  See all the environmental pollution generated by the removal of the artificial turf at RMHS at this link. 

Yesterday, we showed you the dumpster full of plastic artificial grass, ground up rubber tires, hay and plastic bottles at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland.

That dumpster showed that despite years of promises, the Montgomery County Board of Education and Montgomery County County Council were not going to recycle the artificial turf football field at Richard Montgomery High School.

Instead, at least 8 tons of the field are being sent to the Montgomery County incinerator in dumpsters.

But what happens when those dumpsters arrive at the Dickerson incinerator?  As we know from the September 26, 2011, Montgomery County Council hearing on artificial turf (the one where Councilmember Roger Berliner cut the video feed), artificial turf plastic grass is a "nonprocessable waste" (Page 86 of Power Point) and if delivered to the Dickerson incinerator will be sent to our out-of-state landfill in Brunswick, Virginia.

Not only is the RMHS artificial turf field not being recycled, at least 8 tons of it will permanently reside in the landfill in Brunswick, Virginia for centuries.  Artificial turf football fields are used for 10 years and take 1,000 years to decompose (or will never decompose) in a landfill.

You can take your grandchildren to visit the Brunswick, Virginia landfill and rehash the football, lacrosse, and soccer games that were played on the field during it's very short life at RMHS.  And while you are there you can also visit with the artificial turf fields from Blair HS, Wootton HS, Walter Johnson HS, Paint Branch HS, Gaithersburg HS, Whitman HS, BCC High School, Somerset ES and all the others to come.  They will all be there soon.

https://www.scribd.com/document/66591209/T-E-9-26-11-AT-slides

https://www.nmwda.org/montgomery-county/

Click here for more on the story of the removal of the Richard Montgomery High School artificial turf field.

Breaking: Board of Ed. defines Recycling as Throwing in a Dumpster and Sending to Incinerator

The Montgomery County Board of Education has put out an announcement about the removal of the artificial turf football field at Richard Montgomery High School.  The announcement is on the home page of the MCPS website. The announcement says in part: 

July 21, 2018 

Dear MCPS Community,

This week, contractors began work to replace the artificial turf field at Richard Montgomery High School. The existing artificial turf material has been removed and sent for recycling. The entire system, including turf fibers and infill, will be repurposed as a continuation of the overall lifecycle of the materials...

...Contractors and MCPS staff are working diligently to remove the artificial turf in a safe and efficient manner and look forward to installing the new organic infill field shortly.

Andrew Zuckerman
Chief Operating Officer
Montgomery County Public Schools

Richard Montgomery High School
Artificial turf plastic grass, crumb rubber,
hay and empty plastic bottles in a
dumpster on July 25, 2018Source Twitter @BLCon

This is a great summer learning excerise for students.  Have your student read the words from the letter above and then ask them what they think those words mean? 

Then you can show them the picture of the artificial turf plastic grass, crumb rubber, hay and empty plastic bottles in a dumpster on its way to the Montgomery County incinerator.  Explain to your children that this is what recycling looks like in MCPS.   

It turns out that in Montgomery County "recycling" is the same thing as sending trash off to the Dickerson incinerator. 

Now you know!

Richard Montgomery HS getting new turf field.  Supposed to recycle old syn turf and keep crumb rubber out of storm drains.  Tractor trailer load of used ST disappeared & other ST getting dumped.  Crudest of drain protection in use. pic.twitter.com/JF4wjdCePY

— Bailey Condrey (@BLCon) July 26, 2018