Use in Sports and other Recreational Surfaces

Rubber crumb can be used very successfully in the manufacture of sports surfaces such as running tracks in sports stadiums and artificial turf for a variety of uses. Commercial examples of such products include a track marketed by Conica, a division of BASF, as Conipur SW, which is a sandwich system comprising an elasticated layer of recycled rubber granules and a PU binder that is applied in situ to an asphalt substrate with built-in finishers [76]. 

An example of an artificial turf product is one marketed by Mondo as Mondoturf. This is made up of layers comprising a sheet of PE that is placed directly on the soil, a prefabricated elastic mat, the turf surface and an Ecofill infill. About 70% of this system is recycled material, with the elastic mat being derived from waste tyres and the plastic membranes from waste bottles [76]. 

The use of tyre crumb in the manufacture of sports surfaces can raise questions related to health and safety issues. For example, synthetic turf composed of a layer of tyre crumb and ribbons of PE fibres has been installed in many playing fields in the New York City area in the USA [77]. Concerns were raised that the VOC present in the rubber could cause problems when released into the breathing zone of the players, particularly on hot days. There were also questions 

A novel flooring product [81] that can be used in play areas for children and other areas where slip resistance properties are demanding has been developed that consists of a substrate of 100% waste tyre granules covered with a 6 mm coloured EPDM granulate top layer. The waste rubber and coloured EPDM granules are bound together using a flexible, one-part PU binder. Alternative base layers to the waste crumb with which the EPDM top layer can be combined include wooden floors, ceramic tiles or concrete. 

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