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A problem to tackle: soccer players’ awareness of microplastic infill in soccer fields predicts support for pro-environmental interventions
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A survey of 191 soccer players found moderate awareness of microplastic granule pollution from artificial turf fields, and showed that issue-specific problem awareness was the strongest predictor of willingness to support intervention measures. This research highlights that targeted environmental education campaigns directed at athletes and club members could accelerate adoption of practices to reduce one of the largest intentional sources of microplastic emissions in Europe.
On behalf of the European Commission, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published a restriction proposal in early 2019 to minimize the EU-wide placement of intentionally added microplastics in products (ECHA, 2019). Soccer fields in the sense of artificial turf systems (ATS) and their infill are included in this definition and are suspected to be the fourth largest source of microplastic emissions. In the present study, we queried a sample of 191 soccer players regarding their awareness of the problem of synthetic infill discharge from ATS into the environment and whether they are aware of its environmental consequences. In addition, we investigated whether the soccer players expressed a willingness to implement interventions against the discharge of microplastic granules. Results suggest a moderate (rather than high or low) level of problem awareness among soccer players. In particular, issue-specific problem awareness was significantly related to the willingness to implement an intervention measure, being its strongest predictor. Our results further suggest that in order to optimize the awareness and legitimation of intervention measures among club members, more information (i.e., environmental knowledge) should be provided. The present work makes a first important research contribution to the awareness analysis regarding microplastic granulate from ATS.
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