European Commission to restrict use of rubber infill in synthetic sport pitches

A decision by a European Union committee to restrict microplastics introduced intentionally to many products is set to have a significant impact on the use of recycled rubber and plastic as an infill in artificial sporting surfaces.

At the end of last month, the European Commission's REACH (Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical) Committee voted for the proposals that target recyclate from waste tire and rubber materials.

This follows the European Union's ECHA risk committee findings that uncontrolled microplastics released into the environment pose a risk to health released last year (and reported by Australasian Leisure Management).

The European Commission (EC) is now proposing an eight-year transition period at point of sale before the new restriction becomes effective.

It is estimated that over 20 years, the proposed restriction would prevent the release in the environment of about half a million tonnes of microplastics, at an estimated total cost up to €19 billion. The proposal will now be subject to a three-month scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council before it can be adopted by the Commission.

Following the EC's recommendations last year, the European Synthetic Turf Council advised that "current surfaces are expected to be usable for at least 10 years and many existing fields may struggle to achieve their full-service life due to an inability to purchase the materials required for on-going maintenance, forcing communities, schools and sports clubs to either replace their surfaces prematurely or risk deteriorations in the quality and safety of their fields."

It went on to call for the transition period to be extended "to at least 10 years to enable those that have recently invested in new fields to obtain the full operational life they anticipated."

Since the recommendation, the EC has begun carrying out unannounced inspections at the premises of companies active in the synthetic turf industry in several member states.

A statement advised "the Commission has concerns that the inspected companies may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices (Article 101 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union ('TFEU'))."