Court convicts for pollution caused by rubber granules on sports pitches

The environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk Benelux filed a complaint in September 2017. The Dutch Public Prosecution Service investigated this and subsequently brought a case before the court in September 2019 for failing to protect the environment against damage caused by the dispersion of rubber granules. The case focuses on Sportaal, the manager of the sports fields of the Dutch municipality of Enschede. The court in Rotterdam ruled against Sportaal on Thursday: a fine of 10,000 euros, half of which is suspended. That sentence is equal to the prosecution's demand.

“Today's court ruling is very good news for the environment. For years, millions of old car tyres have been crumbled into rubber granules and scattered on sports fields. We hope that this ruling will help to quickly phase out the use of this polluting substance on sports fields. People should be able to play sports on artificial turf pitches without worrying about their health or environmental pollution,” the Dutch-Belgian environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk Benelux responds to the ruling.

Background

The report filed by environmental NGO Recycling Netwerk Benelux in 2017 concerned environmental offences resulting from the leaching of zinc, cobalt and mineral oils into the environment from the use of rubber granules on artificial turf pitches. The complaint was aimed at the entire value chain, ranging from producers who process discarded tyres into rubber granules, the managers of sports facilities and sports clubs that apply it.

The public prosecutor prosecuted Sportaal, the manager of sports facilities in Enschede, a municipality with a population of 158,000 in the east of the Netherlands. The public prosecutor stated in his formal plea that this was not a test case, but a starting case and that “more cases will follow”.

There are almost 2,000 artificial turf pitches in the Netherlands that are currently filled with rubber granules. On average, each field contains rubber granules from 20,000 tyres.

Soil Pollution

According to Dutch law, it is forbidden to pollute the soil. This is stated in the Soil Protection Act. Article 13 prescribes that all measures must be taken that are necessary to prevent soil pollution, even if pollution is suspected. The law contains a duty of care, which obliges relevant actors to prevent soil pollution and to remedy the effects of pollution when soil pollution has occurred.

Despite various documents developed over the years by industry stakeholders to implement the duty of care, rubber granules are spreading into the environment. It contaminates the soil with heavy metals, mineral oil and other chemicals of concern. In addition, the rubber granulate breaks down into microplastics.

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) published its report The environmental impact of rubber granulate near artificial turf pitches in July 2018. In the report, RIVM concludes that zinc, cobalt and mineral oil leak from the rubber granulate, with negative environmental effects on the soil, around and in the sub-layers of the artificial turf pitch. The report concluded that environmental criteria were exceeded on 9 out of 10 fields investigated.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is currently assessing rubber granule infill as part of the preparation of the microplastics dossier under REACH.

Consequences

This lawsuit could have far-reaching consequences for the nearly 2,000 artificial turf pitches in the Netherlands that are currently strewn with rubber granules.

The ruling by the Dutch court could also inspire similar lawsuits in countries facing rubber granules on sports fields, such as Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and Denmark.

Since sufficient alternatives are available to implement, such as cork infill, hybrid or non-infill artificial turf pitches, Recycling Netwerk hopes that municipalities and management organisations will take the total cost of ownership into account and consider the environmental impact when selecting materials for sports facilities in future.

More Information

The hearing took place on 10 December 2019 and was summarised in this article on the website of the Public Prosecution Service

Media about this file from Recycling Netwerk

Volkskrant, 'Groundbreaking': judge imposes fine for stray artificial turf granules, 19/12/2019

Tubantia, Environmental movement: 'After Enschede, justice may call the tyre industry to account', 19/12/2019

NOS, First conviction for rubber granules on sports fields hits Enschede company, 19/12/2019

Tubantia, Bombshell under artificial turf pitches: Sportaal from Enschede convicted for rubber granules, 19/12/2019

RTV Oost, Manager of artificial turf pitches in Enschede convicted for environmental pollution from rubber granules, 19/12/2019

Zembla, For the first time manager artifi

The environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk Benelux filed a complaint in September 2017. The Dutch Public Prosecution Service investigated this and subsequently brought a case before the court in September 2019 for failing to protect the environment against damage caused by the dispersion of rubber granules. The case focuses on Sportaal, the manager of the sports fields of the Dutch municipality of Enschede. The court in Rotterdam ruled against Sportaal on Thursday: a fine of 10,000 euros, half of which is suspended. That sentence is equal to the prosecution's demand.

“Today's court ruling is very good news for the environment. For years, millions of old car tyres have been crumbled into rubber granules and scattered on sports fields. We hope that this ruling will help to quickly phase out the use of this polluting substance on sports fields. People should be able to play sports on artificial turf pitches without worrying about their health or environmental pollution,” the Dutch-Belgian environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk Benelux responds to the ruling.

Background

The report filed by environmental NGO Recycling Netwerk Benelux in 2017 concerned environmental offences resulting from the leaching of zinc, cobalt and mineral oils into the environment from the use of rubber granules on artificial turf pitches. The complaint was aimed at the entire value chain, ranging from producers who process discarded tyres into rubber granules, the managers of sports facilities and sports clubs that apply it.

The public prosecutor prosecuted Sportaal, the manager of sports facilities in Enschede, a municipality with a population of 158,000 in the east of the Netherlands. The public prosecutor stated in his formal plea that this was not a test case, but a starting case and that “more cases will follow”.

There are almost 2,000 artificial turf pitches in the Netherlands that are currently filled with rubber granules. On average, each field contains rubber granules from 20,000 tyres.

Soil Pollution

According to Dutch law, it is forbidden to pollute the soil. This is stated in the Soil Protection Act. Article 13 prescribes that all measures must be taken that are necessary to prevent soil pollution, even if pollution is suspected. The law contains a duty of care, which obliges relevant actors to prevent soil pollution and to remedy the effects of pollution when soil pollution has occurred.

Despite various documents developed over the years by industry stakeholders to implement the duty of care, rubber granules are spreading into the environment. It contaminates the soil with heavy metals, mineral oil and other chemicals of concern. In addition, the rubber granulate breaks down into microplastics.

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) published its report The environmental impact of rubber granulate near artificial turf pitches in July 2018. In the report, RIVM concludes that zinc, cobalt and mineral oil leak from the rubber granulate, with negative environmental effects on the soil, around and in the sub-layers of the artificial turf pitch. The report concluded that environmental criteria were exceeded on 9 out of 10 fields investigated.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is currently assessing rubber granule infill as part of the preparation of the microplastics dossier under REACH.

Consequences

This lawsuit could have far-reaching consequences for the nearly 2,000 artificial turf pitches in the Netherlands that are currently strewn with rubber granules.

The ruling by the Dutch court could also inspire similar lawsuits in countries facing rubber granules on sports fields, such as Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and Denmark.

Since sufficient alternatives are available to implement, such as cork infill, hybrid or non-infill artificial turf pitches, Recycling Netwerk hopes that municipalities and management organisations will take the total cost of ownership into account and consider the environmental impact when selecting materials for sports facilities in future.

More Information

The hearing took place on 10 December 2019 and was summarised in this article on the website of the Public Prosecution Service

Media about this file from Recycling Netwerk

Volkskrant, 'Groundbreaking': judge imposes fine for stray artificial turf granules, 19/12/2019

Tubantia, Environmental movement: 'After Enschede, justice may call the tyre industry to account', 19/12/2019

NOS, First conviction for rubber granules on sports fields hits Enschede company, 19/12/2019

Tubantia, Bombshell under artificial turf pitches: Sportaal from Enschede convicted for rubber granules, 19/12/2019

RTV Oost, Manager of artificial turf pitches in Enschede convicted for environmental pollution from rubber granules, 19/12/2019

Zembla, For the first time manager of artificial turf pitches convicted and fined, 19/12/2019

RTV Oost, Lawyer: "There will be more lawsuits about rubber granules on sports fields", 20/12/2019

AfvalOnline, 10,000 euros fine for contamination with rubber granules, 20/12/2019

RTV Oost, Will all artificial turf granules be banned?, 20/12/2019

Volkskrant, Sports field manager convicted for scattered artificial turf granules, 27/12/2019

NRC, Rubber granules still on most artificial turf pitches, 20/12/2019