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Yes! It's literally pollution.
For those that want but are unable to maintain a lawn due to disability or ill health then there should be a scheme by the local council to cut it for them. This could would really well if a local council leaves more public space wild also. Then the work load may reduce but not entirely.
Or grow (bee friendly) plants.
Biggest downside of fake grass are. The pollution from fabrication to microplastic waste. Biodiversity unfriendly and,… and! It burns your feet in a hot summer! Shit gets hot.
Artificial soccer fields really radiate heat during sunny days.
They literally kill the soil under them too.
I think fake grass looks absolutely shit and I don't like the environmental impact but I don't think that banning it is the solution.
Let's see some incentives for people that keep their gardens wildlife and eco friendly like a council tax discount.
If we are going to ban petrol and diesel cars, and oil and gas boilers, we can certainly ban fake grass.
We have only a small space in our garden that's quite sheltered and has poor drainage. We use that space for the dogs to do thier business and if it was real grass there it would just be a toxic shit swamp.
Also in the city near me they took up a lot of paving stones on a well travelled area and replaced it with Astroturf. Were it real grass it would be ground into a dirt track in a few days.
There are useful applications.
Yep we had a small 3m square patch of paving, we tried turf and it died due to overuse with kids playing and use using it for sitting out, picnics and BBQs. The choice is deck or fake grass and fake grass is cheaper.
We have wildflower border and fake grass currently.
Also in the city near me they took up a lot of paving stones on a well travelled area and replaced it with Astroturf.
Why didn't they just keep the paving stones?
I stopped mowing my grass years ago and let nature take over.
Looks a bit messy for the first few years, but after a while it's a haven for insects.
You've got to keep an eye so one thing doesn't take over. Like I had to chop back and dig up the pampas grass plant, because I had no interest in being sliced to ribbons by a knife wielding triffid every day. Blackberry bushes are apparently a bitch and will take the lot so don't have those.
I'm sure the neighbours hate it, but I don't give a fuck what they think. My garden doesn't need watering and was still green last year when everyone else's garden was brown and dead in the 40 degree heat.
Wild gardens are basically how most gardens should be kept, so nice one there.
I did exactly the same, not only it was full of insects (and mostly ladybugs and later butterflies) but the plants seemed a lot more healthy.
Fake grass is bloody stupid.
If you don't want to cut your lawn either let it grow into a wild flower lawn, and pretend that that was the goal all along, and it's not that you're lazy.
Or dig it up and set it up as a plant bed. At least that's still real and not unconvincing polluting plastic.
I just installed one of these for my g/f in her back yard catio and I think it's great. I play 7 a side on it twice a week.
Why would people want such a useful material 'banned'? If you don't like it, then don't install it. If it doesn't work out great in your space, then you can always remove it.
In terms of waste, you can say that about literally everything we consume.
Why would people want such a useful material ‘banned’? If you don’t like it, then don’t install it.
For the same reason we are trying to phase out fossil fuels as an energy source - environmental degradation harms everyone. It's not a matter of personal taste, it's about protecting the planet we need to live on.
Why would people want such a useful material ‘banned’?
Because it's fucking up the planet and if you haven't noticed, the planet has been taking quite the beating these past 3 weeks.
In terms of waste, you can say that about literally everything we consume.
Real grass is not consumed and thinking about everything in terms of human consumption is the problem. Change your mindset.
Real grass is not consumed
I'm not sure what you mean by that, but in many cases people are laying it over what otherwise would be concrete, or gravel places that are not suited to a lawn.
This looks like a "make me an article out of this press release" article. It's noise-news. Clickbait pagefiller crap.
Also for the average size of a garden in the UK (median), it's probably less plastic than a month's worth of groceries wastes.