the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Jersey City NJ, New Jersey state legislators are stepping up in the ongoing debate over artificial turf. Senator Raj Mukherji (D-Jersey City) is leading the charge, urging the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to cease funding for synthetic grass installations, citing significant environmental and health concerns.
In a resolution introduced recently, Mukherji highlighted the fact that in 2023, the DEP allocated $10 million to municipalities for artificial turf projects. This decision came despite mounting evidence that synthetic surfaces, though durable and multipurpose, come with serious drawbacks. Artificial turf is known to be much hotter than natural grass and often contains PFAS—polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals.” These chemicals can seep into groundwater and have been linked to cancer, causing concern in local communities.
The Push for Natural Grass
Sen. Mukherji’s non-binding resolution (SR-113) asks the DEP to prioritize investments in safe, non-toxic, natural grass playing fields. This move is part of a broader pushback against the proliferation of artificial turf, which is gaining momentum in towns across New Jersey.
“We’re fighting plastics again,” said Taylor McFarland, conservation program manager for the Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter. The organization is backing the resolution, comparing the effort to the successful 2022 statewide ban on single-use plastic bags. McFarland emphasized that artificial turf fields, which typically last eight to ten years, are not recyclable and end up in landfills, adding to environmental waste.
While the DEP has not commented on the resolution, the conversation surrounding artificial turf is intensifying, especially in areas where synthetic fields are already in place or planned.
The Appeal of Turf Fields—and the Concerns
Artificial turf fields have become popular due to their resilience. They don’t absorb water, provide better footing for athletes, and can be used year-round for various sports. Ocean City, for instance, recently celebrated the opening of its new artificial turf field, while Essex County and Montclair have also installed synthetic surfaces for baseball, soccer, and more.
However, the growing environmental and health concerns are sparking opposition. In Edison, a $350 million project to overhaul Thomas A. Edison Park will replace much of the park’s grass and trees with artificial turf, sparking criticism from groups like the Edison Open Space Advisory Committee. “Artificial turf is not a sustainable product,” said committee chairman Walter Stochel, Jr.
Pushback from Communities
Despite the appeal of turf for many sports programs, some New Jersey towns have rejected its use through public referendums. In Scotch Plains and Westfield, residents voted against bond issues to fund artificial turf installations. Similarly, Maplewood residents turned down an artificial turf proposal for DeHart Park in 2021.
The shift away from artificial turf is gaining traction in places like Verona, where the township is considering a return to natural grass at its Centennial Field following a study by Montclair State University students. This move is particularly significant, as the township is already spending millions to remove PFAS from its water supply.
Calls for a Moratorium
In Montclair, the conversation surrounding artificial turf has intensified, especially after Anna Grossman, head of Sustainable Montclair, conducted her own tests on synthetic fields. Though school officials claimed the turf at Woodman Field did not contain PFAS, Grossman’s independent tests showed the presence of fluorine, a building block of PFAS.
Grossman presented her findings to the Montclair council, calling for a moratorium on further installations. “Our water is potentially at risk, and the communities surrounding artificial turf fields are being exposed to microplastics,” she warned. Council members, including Carmel Loughman and Aminah Toler, have expressed support for the moratorium, citing environmental and health concerns.
As the debate over artificial turf rages on, New Jersey communities are left grappling with the balance between meeting the demand for sports fields and safeguarding the environment and public health.
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Will Ridgewood take heed and realize short term convenience isnt the answer? Will the sports organizations focus on the health of the children playing on it and the negative things it can do to our water and envrionment…our planet?
It’s about time,
Vagianos and his puppets on the council and village administration will never agree to this.
Rules and laws don’t make sense to them.
The village manager was his campaign manager and owes the 250k+ job to him, and the council puppets owes their campaign funding to him.
He funded their campaigns to get them elected and they need to pay him back with their votes.
They had this plan all along. Siobahn Winograd’s campaign was supposed to be an older plan but then she pulled the bait and switcheroo. If you think this just happened overnight. Think again. It was a carefully crafted plan to fool everyone into voting for her. She can’t leave soon enough.
Yes, everyone in Ridgewood sports is aware that this was the plan all along. They just wanted people to think they were going to implement the smaller field. Vagianos was all over town bragging about it. Ridgewood walks and talks, that is for darn sure.
First question to each council candidate at the Ridgewood Village Council Candidate Forum/Debate on October 16th, 7:30 – 9pm
You will not get an honest answer! Never have, never will.
That much is true. Vagianos is a liar, Mortimer is all in on turf even tho he is Mr. “Bee Man” and slow mow May. What a farce.
Good. Let them lie and embarrass themselves on the record.
I don’t think booing is prohibited.
Let’s ask Frank the Been Man what his kids think of a flip flopper? Great values but it seems to be a stretch that you can’t deny is ridiculous.
Vagianos, Winograd, Weitz have been rallying the cry for turf because they want peope to believe the kiddies need another field which they do not. Unfortunately, the contaminated soil situation over on the Schedler property may take a while for them to clean up. Vagianos will try to make sure it is the last thing he does but may people are hoping that he does not get re-elected and goes back to running his businesses and not ruining the village.
It is anyone’s guess what will happen in the village related to turf, but it would seem that with all of the data coming out highlighting the negative impact of PFAS and plastic grass in addition to more places looking to ban it, you have to do so thinking that something just isn’t right and soon enough they will be pulling up all of these overpriced synthetic plastic rugs expensive plastic rugs because our children mean more to us than making some turf vendor a rich dude.
Give him a stomach pump as a going away gift……………..
Are they planning on cleaning it up because Habernickel has a garden based business amongst contaminated soil. How’s that even safe?
I know that’s such bullshit slow Mow, I cut my grass when I want to not when they tell me too, and I water when I want water I don’t give two shits. Screw them just pick up my yard waste.
And don’t forget about your leaf blower. Remind us about how they’ll never pry it from your cold, dead hands.
Turf fields are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Whine all you want.
I really good friend of mine has made millions putting in turf fields, now he is making millions taking them out and replacing them with Natural fields.
Fact!!
Maybe not. We will see. I think one day it will be evident that the need to get kids outside to play on grass for healthy play, whether organized in sports or not, far exceeds the risk of playing on hot rough plastic that may have far reaching health impacts. Sure, maybe they won’t get cancer today or tomorrow but one day you might wonder whether it was a contributing factor to some ill health outcome. Why would you take that chance? Apparently just like cigarettes, there are millions of dollars at stake, and people stilll do smoke but they agree to the risk. Our kids don’t and the pressure of the sports organizations demanding turf seems like they should have a waiver system to ensure the safety of players.
It is really weird how so many people that are not athletes, and never played on these crappy town fields, are the ones fighting so hard to stop kids from getting these much better fields to play on. Most of the time people are against turf because there is this incorrect notion that turf fields cost more than natural which is not the case.
For a handful of athletes who will play c or d level college teams, you want to risk health of all other recreational players on that field?
Are you serious? That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. No one is fighting to stop kids from getting “much better” fields to play on. Turf is wrong for a whole lot of more important reasons that have to do with health and detrimental climate issues the least of which is how much it costs. However, the cost is astronomical and in no way more cost effective than grass. You obviously have not done your homework assignment.
not true, the cost is only more if you put one in a place that constantly gets flooded and requires repair, otherwise the turf fields are much better to play on and require way less upkeep to remain in playable condition (unlike the crap condition of most of the town real grass / or lack of grass fields.
Some of these kids will develop cancer. I hope they come back and sue the officials who made it happen even though they had been warned for decades about health problems related to synthetic turf.
Everyone gets cancer if they live long enough! Try and prove it came from turf fields or the food, water, or air we all consume. Just tell the children not to eat the rubber crumbs and they’ll live to 100.
yes doctor LOL
OK. Now we stop “due to environmental concerns”
…but we didn’t stop for decades, even though children were getting injured on turf
… but we didn’t stop for decades even though it costs us tens of thousands of dollars to repeatedly replace turf fields
This shows you how f-ed up NJ has become.