A quarter of Brits want a ban on fake grass

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.
Lawns are also a total waste. It takes so much gas to maintain a lawn that serves literally no environmental purpose. At least fake grass you don't need to waste gas to cut.

Wild space is great though. We should be encouraging that and discouraging all lawns, fake or real.
- Gas? Why does it use gas to maintain a lawn?
- Gas?
They literally kill the soil under them too.

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’?

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.
Why would people want such a useful material ‘banned’?

Because it's not actually useful, it's just poison.

In terms of waste, you can say that about literally everything we consume.

Yeah, and we need to stop. It's literally going to drive us to extinction, along with countless other species. This kind of apathy is disgusting.
- It can be useful. It's a great surface for doing any form of outdoor exercise on.
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.
I have one because we have too much shade to grow grass. We have a 3 storey 60s house and a small, north facing garden. That said only one brand was recyclable at the end of its life, which is a shame
In terms of waste, you can say that about literally everything we consume.

So it is either all of it or nothing in your book?
- Do we ban everything wasteful?
  
  I'm not against it, I don't like waste but starting with fake grass seems odd considering it has uses and there's plenty of shit we manufacture that is properly useless.

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 guess they figured it would look nicer to have the fake grass with some tall planters on it that just the larger swathe of concrete with planters on

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.

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.

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.

The only arguments against fake grass are that it doesn't look nice, and it isn't made from sustainable materials. The arguments for fake grass include that it is low maintenance (negating some of the environmental impact), and that it is much better for people with accessibility needs.

Meanwhile, grass lawns require lots if maintenance (not good at all for the environment), aren't good for people with accessibility needs, and look boring and unvaried. Meanwhile the upside for a grass lawn is it looks traditional. To that I say, screw tradition. Grow clover, wildflowers, moss, and edible plants in your yard. These NIMBY brit-karens fan fuck off

https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/discover/why-are-artificial-lawns-bad-for-the-environment

Minimising the objections down to that and then writing them all off as NIMBYism is such an absurd strawman.

I agree that non traditional lawns are better, but that definitely does not include artificial pitch.

Three quarter of Brits opinions dont matter

That is not how statistics work my friend.

A quarter. And about half are still not entirely convinced that Brexit might not have been the greatest of ideas. Idiots.

Grass? Who gives a shit about grass?