ETRMA 'deeply concerned' by EU infill ban proposal

BRUSSELS—The European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers' Association said it's "deeply concerned" by a European Commission proposal to ban the use of rubber granules as infill material in synthetic sports surfaces.

In a statement supplied to European Rubber Journal, ETRMA warned about the negative "economic consequences of the ban for the tire recycling industry, the continuation of material circularity, and the impact on CO2 equivalent savings."

According to the association, the development of the infill industry over the last years has been intrinsically linked to the availability of rubber granules.

As well as providing affordable material for use in synthetic sports fields across Europe, the product has secured a stable market for rubber granular material producers leading to economies of scale, it said.

But the EC's proposed ban on rubber granular infill material in synthetic turf, ETRMA continued in a Sept. 20 statement, "puts at stake the continuous material recycling of tires."

In particular, the European tire recycling industry is set to lose at least 30 percent of its end market, the industry association said.

Likewise, it said, the loss of 30 percent of the market for infill "hampers the profitability of the granulation business model as a whole, jeopardizing the availability of rubber granules for current and future alternative applications."

ETRMA noted that since the European Chemical Agency evaluation—on which the ban is based—two new studies have shown that efficient "risk management measures" do prevent the release of infill from synthetic sports surfaces.

These studies confirm that "with simple and affordable risk management measures, releases from artificial turf are (minimized) and controlled, not posing significant risks for the environment," concluded ETRMA.