Bill to Prohibit Green Acres Spending on Artificial Turf Unanimously Released from Committee
Trenton, NJ - Today, the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee released A4908(Collazos-Gill/Friedman), which prohibits expenditure of Green Acres funds for the purchase, use, installation, or replacement of artificial turf fields.
The NJ Sierra Club, one of the state's leading organizations pushing for safe recreation and natural grass playing fields, strongly supports the bill. Three years ago, the NJ Sierra Club launched its Back to Grass Campaign after seeing a massive surge in natural grass fields being replaced by plastic across New Jersey schools and towns. New Jersey actually has the most artificial turf fields in the nation.
Currently, state tax dollars through the Green Acres Program intended for conservation are instead subsidizing toxic, plastic artificial turf fields. In recent years, the Green Acres Program has spent millions in public funding on these artificial fields, including $10 million in 2023 and another $4 million in 2025.
Taylor McFarland, Conservation Program Manager for the NJ Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“This legislation is essential to protect our environment and public health and to ensure that Green Acres funds are strictly dedicated to conservation and safe recreation. The environmental and human health costs of artificial turf are staggering. A single artificial turf field contains about 40,000 pounds of plastic, equivalent to 24 million plastic straws or 2.4 million water bottles. These plastic fields last only 8-10 years and can’t be recycled conventionally, leading to landfill disposal or illegal dumping.
Right now, taxpayer money from Green Acres goes to artificial turf manufacturing corporations in Georgia. But if we invest in natural grass, we invest in New Jersey farms. According to the USDA Census of Agriculture, the sod and nursery industry is the absolute leading agricultural sector in the Garden State. Supporting this bill ensures that state funding fuels New Jersey’s labor market and agricultural vocational sectors, rather than paying for imported plastic carpets.
I grew up playing soccer on grass, but now kids as young as 3 and 4 are growing up playing on plastic artificial turf. Young children playing on plastic face unique health and environmental risks because their bodies, organs, and detoxification systems are still rapidly developing. We need to consider the long-term impacts of these plastic fields. Which is why we need to get back to grass.
This bill is not only about reducing plastics in our playing fields, but also about protecting our players' health and safety. It is a huge step in the right direction to utilize our taxpayer money for safe recreation in the state while protecting our environment. Public funds should never subsidize plastic pollution in our communities.”