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The motion asks council to urgently consider replacing the artificial grass with a non-plastic safe alternative: “Plastic grass can in summer months reach extremely high temperatures exposing the public, and particularly children, to the risks of heat exposure and burns.” Dodds cites research showing that artificial turf can reach 72 degrees, compared with 39 degrees for real grass. Playgrounds with black and dark-coloured wet pour rubber and synthetic turf, which had different types of plastic grass, were the hottest floor materials, the journal Building and Environment reported. They all had maximum surface temperatures greater than 80 degrees. On the verge of a suburban Chatswood street, Dodds discovered fake grass that was as hot as the black bitumen on the adjacent road. An urban heat study commissioned by the council from Western Sydney University found “stark thermal differences” across the LGA, with air temperatures reaching 46 degrees in some areas. Using more than 100 temperature loggers, it showed extreme heat was an issue in a suburb like Chatswood, as well as in the east of the city, near the harbour, and in the west.
