Gummigranulat på konstgräsplaner - en miljörisk till följd av spridning via dagvattensystemet.

Artificial football fields contains rubber granulate wich tends to disappear from the fields and into the environment via the storm water system. The number of football fields made of artificial turf in Sweden is increasing. Because the synthetic turf have better qualities compare to natural turf, especially in the northen climate because the artificial turf can be used even in the winter. The amount of rubber granules in the environment will then increase with the number of new football fields in Sweden. Rubber granules is counted as microplasts and are therefore thought to cause the same problems as other microplastics from other sources. Estimately, 60% of the rubber granules i Sweden consist of SBR-rubber made of old car tire. Car tire contain many substances that causes damages to the environmen and these substances remains in the rubber granules that is used on the football fields. The fields loses between 1640-3510 tonnes of rubber granulat every year in Sweden, the majority of all the imigrated rubber granulates will most likely flow into the stormwater wells and later end up in the sea or a lake. There are no direct legalisation concerning the use of rubber granules in Sweden, which leads to a unsustainable managment of the rubber granules on artificial turfgrass. The questions that is investigated in this report focus on rubber granules from an environmental perspective, how the flow of rubber granulates looks in our Swedish storm water system, what laws/requirements exist around this and what effects do microplastics have on the environment. Reacently, more environmentally friendly alternatives to rubber granulates have been developed, consisting of organic plans material like cork from corktrees, but so far the environmental impact of rubber is a divided question which this report will try to sort out.