Outdoor & Yard / Products / Tire Recycling Crumb Rubber — PAHs and Heavy Metals in Playground Surfaces and Artificial Turf (Benzo[a]pyrene, Lead, Zinc, Children's Exposure)

Tire Recycling Crumb Rubber — PAHs and Heavy Metals in Playground Surfaces and Artificial Turf (Benzo[a]pyrene, Lead, Zinc, Children's Exposure) — outdoor safety profile

Moderate risk

Recycled tire crumb rubber — ground from the 300 million scrap tires generated annually in the United States — is used as infill in 12,000-13,000 synthetic turf athletic fields and as surfacing material in thousands of playground fall zones.

What is this product?

Recycled tire crumb rubber — ground from the 300 million scrap tires generated annually in the United States — is used as infill in 12,000-13,000 synthetic turf athletic fields and as surfacing material in thousands of playground fall zones. This creates direct, prolonged exposure of children and athletes to a complex mixture of chemicals inherent to tire composition: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including benzo[a]pyrene (IARC Group 1 carcinogen), heavy metals including lead (50-100 mg/kg), zinc (8,000-20,000 mg/kg — leaches at acutely toxic levels to aquatic organisms), cadmium, and the recently identified tire-derived chemical 6PPD-quinone — a transformation product of the rubber antioxidant 6PPD that is acutely lethal to coho salmon at 0.8 ug/L (discovered 2020). Children playing on crumb rubber surfaces ingest particles through hand-to-mouth behavior, inhale volatilized PAHs during hot weather (surface temperatures of crumb rubber turf reach 60-80C/140-175F — 30-40C above natural grass), and experience dermal contact with rubber particulate embedded in skin abrasions ('turf burn'). The EPA/CDC/CPSC Federal Research Action Plan on Recycled Tire Crumb (2016-2019) found that while individual chemical concentrations in crumb rubber were generally below levels of concern, the cumulative multi-pathway exposure assessment and the presence of 6PPD-quinone (identified after the study) warrant continued investigation. Multiple European countries and US states have proposed or enacted restrictions on crumb rubber use, with the EU ECHA restriction proposal limiting PAH content to 20 mg/kg (sum of 8 PAHs) in granular infill materials.

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Tire Component

Tire Contaminant

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