Microplastics

Arti­fi­cial turf on sports fields provides an excel­lent playing surface. But use and drai­nage of this result in micro­pla­s­tics being flushed out into preci­pi­ta­tion and surface waters. This is a chall­enge that Hauraton is over­co­ming with respon­sible envi­ron­mental tech­no­logy. The drai­nage specia­list, based in the Baden region, has a safe and effec­tive solu­tion for filte­ring and retai­ning micro­pla­stic particles. In the Sportfix®Clean drai­nage system and channel filter with filter substrate Carbotec 60, particles down to the smal­lest size of 0.45 µm (0.00045 mm) are reliably removed by filte­ring.

With sports fields incre­asingly being equipped with arti­fi­cial turf world­wide, this is highly rele­vant. The synthetic surfaces are very robust, require much less care than natural turf and offer higher quality stan­dards for the safety of athletes. On modern surfaces, playing proper­ties such as ball roll beha­viour are very close to natural turf on sports pitches. The high useful life of around 1,700 hours per year compared to 400 to 800 hours for natural turf, a service life of at least ten years and greatly reduced main­ten­ance effort are all bene­fits of arti­fi­cial turf.

Mechanical wear creates tiny plastic particles

Arti­fi­cial turf surfaces are a type of plastic carpet. When playing on the surfaces, the EPDM granu­late (the mate­rial used for infilled arti­fi­cial turf) and the synthetic grass fibres are exposed to repeated strain. The mecha­nical wear from higher tread loads — as created during foot­ball or rugby — causes tiny particles or blades of arti­fi­cial grass to break off. This amounts to 250 to 300 kg per year for modern sports fields.

These particles need to be prevented from ente­ring the natural water cycle, and finally the food chain, via rain­water drai­ning off the pitch. Rese­arch over the last few years has shown that micro­pla­s­tics, which are now present in large quan­ti­ties in the world’s oceans, have also already entered our food chain. The health conse­quences are not yet known. To prevent plastic particles from reaching water bodies, coll­ected surface water must be filtered before it is distri­buted.

Increased maintenance intervals offer reliability

This channel filter func­tions accor­ding to the prin­ciple of surface filtra­tion. It is ther­e­fore twice as effec­tive: not only plastic parts are retained on the filter surface, but also pollut­ants such as heavy metals or hydro­car­bons.

The system has been proven to work reliably over very long periods. Long main­ten­ance inter­vals and simple clea­ning repre­sent addi­tional bene­fits. After many years of use, filter cake forms on the surface of the filter. This is stripped off during main­ten­ance  and then only the filter substrate that was removed  is reple­nished.

Whether on a hockey field or  foot­ball pitch – wherever arti­fi­cial turf surfaces are used, drai­nage systems are also usually required. In addi­tion to safe drai­nage, Sportfix Clean chan­nels also offer a simple way to filter the waste water and perma­nent reten­tion of plastic particles and pollut­ants. This econo­mical filter system can also be installed at exis­ting faci­li­ties.

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