Athletic Fields Put Spring Back into Player's Steps
Recycled rubber tires protect grass, cushion soil.

By Keith Farner, Hearld-Leader Staff writer

Each fall, area athletic fields look bruised, battered and worn out.

Every day, it seems, they're subject to cleats and balls. Running, kicking, sliding from soccer and football practices and games.

By Thanksgiving, the fields look brown, weak and dry. While the grass may be soft and green in September, by November it's like concrete.

But thanks to a 1998 soil study at Michigan State University, some Kentucky field, and players' joints, have been given relief -- and a cushion.

Professors and students in the crop and soil sciences department developed a substance called "crumb rubber" meant to cushion the abuse athletic fields get each fall. Call it Rogaine for the 50-yard line.

Crumb rubber is a fine gravel-like substance made out of recycled tires. This year, the state environmental cabinet has given 21 grants to help pay for the use of crumb rubber.

Fayette and Harrison counties have secured grants, and crumb rubber has already been applied to Lafayette's and Harrison County's high school athletic fields.

"We're really excited about it from the prospect of it being such an environmentally sound way of recycling rubber," said Harrison County football coach Ray Graham.

Before helping football fields last longer with a sponge-like feel, the Kentucky Division of Waste Management needed a solution for illegal tire dumps.

Particularly troubling for environmentalists were the flammable piles of disposed tires. Another problem was that tires collected standing water, creating breeding ground for mosquitoes, which carry West Nile virus.

Todd McCoy, a resource conservation supervisor with the Division of Waste Management, said he wanted to get rid of the perception that tire swings are the only way to recycle old tires.

"If we could create a market where waste tires were used then we might add value to that tire," McCoy said.

A $1 tax on new tire purchases in Kentucky generates $2.5 million per year toward cleaning up illegal tire dumps.

Recycled tires are not only going toward athletic fields. Some cities are using the material in parks and playgrounds. And it can be painted to be used in landscaping, McCoy said.

Before crumb rubber is applied, fields are aerated to allow the rubber to settle into the ground. The rubber layer protects the root stem and aids in water absorption.

Each year the rubber embeds itself farther into the soil, McCoy said, to make a compost layer under the surface. The lifespan for the application is three to five years.

"Everybody I talked to about it was, 'Hey, this is amazing,'" Graham said. "The kids want to be on it; there's no injuries; it feels good to them; it saves the grass."

The 21 grants for crumb rubber surfacing cost the state $979,280. Lafayette resurfaced two athletic fields at a cost of $72,000. Harrison County required $80,000 for three fields.

Lafayette Athletics Director Mike Wlosinksi said football and soccer boosters contributed $22,000 to the project, money that was already set aside for field improvements.

Lafayette is planning to add the project to its curriculum this fall. Wlosinksi said science classes will use hands-on exercises to learn about recycled material.

Since 1998, crumb rubber has spread from Michigan to Indiana, Kentucky, Florida and Texas, Graham said.

And those familiar with crumb rubber expect it to spread across the state in the years ahead.

"When people play Nelson County, Harrison County or Lafayette," Graham said, "they're going to want it."