ERASSTRI - European Risk Assessment Study on Synthetic Turf Rubber Infill – Part 1: Analysis of infill samples

Hazardous compounds in recreational and urban recycled surfaces made from crumb rubber. Compliance with current regulation and future perspectives

“…The PAHs showing the highest concentration were PYR and FLA, being their contribution about 30% of the total PAH content. These results agree with those reported on the total PAH content of recycled crumb rubber from European recyclers companies (Schneider et al, 2020b).…”

“…The presence of heavy metals has been reported (Bocca et al, 2009;Janes et al, 2018;Menichini et al, 2011), especially Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn at hundreds and even thousands of μg g −1 , then, exceeding the limits established by some regulations regarding the maximum concentration allowed in soils (Bocca et al, 2009). The presence of a high number of organic compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), paraffins, benzothiazoles, plasticizers, antioxidants, or phenols, among others have been also reported in the crumb rubber employed for playgrounds and synthetic turf pitches (Brandsma et al, 2019;Celeiro et al, 2014;Diekmann et al, 2019;Llompart et al, 2013;Schneider et al, 2020b). The presence of most of these hazardous compounds is expected in this recycled material, since most of the recycled rubber stems from shredded end-of-life tires, the main components of which are rubber polymers (up to 60%) and aromatic extender oils (up to 30%).…”

Evaluation of chemicals of environmental concern in crumb rubber and water leachates from several types of synthetic turf football pitches

“…As can be seen, the profile was similar for the 44 analyzed samples, with PYR contributing the most to the total PAH concentration. This result, as well as the S PAHs levels agree with those reported in previous studies (Marsili L, 2015;Celeiro et al, 2018;Diekmann A and Schaumann, 2019;Schneider et al, 2020c). However, the PAH concentration measured in the crumb rubber is much higher than that found in urban soils of several North American cities, some of them located in areas close to high-traffic roads (Gao et al, 2019;Liu et al, 2019).…”

“…Due to the complex manufacturing process of tires, several compounds (accelerators, activators, plasticizers, and vulcanizing agents) and chemicals (benzene, phthalates, and alkylphenols, among others) can generate potential environmental and public health concerns (Bocca et al, 2009). Traces of hazardous pollutants from tire production, such as PAHs, heavy metals, volatile organic hydrocarbons (VOCs) and numerous additives have been found in crumb rubber (Plesser and Lund, 2004;Han et al, 2008;Menichini et al, 2011;Llompart et al, 2013;Ruffino et al, 2013;Celeiro et al, 2014Celeiro et al, , 2018Schneider et al, 2020c). The crumb rubber employed as infill in synthetic turf football pitches or playgrounds, is considered a mixture and the maximum individual concentrations for PAHs were initially set at 100 mg g À1 for benzo [a] the skin or the oral cavity such as toys are set at 1 mg g À1 or 0.5 mg g À1 (Barrero-Moreno et al, 2018).…”

“…Although there are some studies dedicated to the presence of contaminants in crumb rubber, the last reports available from regulatory bodies (Schneider et al, 2020a(Schneider et al, , 2020b(Schneider et al, , 2020c stress the need for more extensive monitoring for a better assessment of the risks for human health and the environment. Most of the available studies are focused on specific geographical areas and usually include only a few samples and compounds.…”