Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what alternatives are available to rubber granules used for stabilisation in artificial grass playing fields.

Rubber granules used as infill on artificial playing fields have been proved to be hard wearing and able to provide sports performance and athlete protection. Sport England isn’t aware of any acceptable suitable alternative infill materials that can be used to replace the rubber crumb on existing pitches. This is because the alternatives, such as cork and coconut fibre do not equal performance qualities such as shock absorption and density.

Non-filled long-pile artificial grass surfaces have been developed and introduced to the market, but to date, none have been found to satisfy the sports performance and player welfare requirements of FIFA and World Rugby.