Connecticut has 118 playgrounds surfaced with harmful waste tire rubber, and it’s time to test them

We have now learned that the municipal government in Washington, D.C., has closed three children’s playgrounds with “poured-in-place” rubber surfacing after high levels of lead were found. Poured-in-place rubber is a seamless rubber surface that is used in many playgrounds in Connecticut and across the nation.

This reporting is important because it shows that playgrounds surfaced with poured-in-place waste tire rubber have not been tested for lead or other chemicals before these surfaces were installed. We know that waste tire rubber products contain 11 carcinogens and 20 irritants, as well as a number of heavy metals. Then how is it that this untested and unregulated material has been placed in so many of our smallest children’s playgrounds around Connecticut and beyond?

It was not until the District of Columbia decided to actually test these three playgrounds with poured-in-place surfacing that lead was found — and then, of course, they had to close the playgrounds. Was testing done for the other chemicals that we know are in waste tire rubber surfacing? What about the testing for lead and other chemicals that has not been done in all the other playgrounds across Connecticut and the country with this rubber surfacing?

Last year, Environment and Human Health Inc. visited health departments in many Connecticut towns to discuss the dangers of surfacing playgrounds with rubber mulch and poured-in-place rubber. EHHI also tracked how many playgrounds in Connecticut have either rubber mulch surfacing or poured-in-place rubber surfacing.

EHHI found that, while most playgrounds in Connecticut had their rubber mulch surfacing removed, the state still has 118 playgrounds surfaced with poured-in-place waste rubber tires — 86 were in schools and 32 were in municipal playgrounds. Connecticut is a small state, so think how many must exist in other states.

Poured-in-place rubber surfacing is not regulated nor is it uniform. It is made up of waste tires from all over the country and the world. Used car tires of every make, truck tires and many other waste tires are all put into rubber tire shredding machines, making uniformity of the product impossible.

David Brown, EHHI’s toxicologist who has a doctorate of science, said of poured-in-place rubber surfacing: “Children are exposed to the materials as they shed from the playground, from the edges, when rubber surface is in disrepair, or when holes or rips develop gradually or suddenly. These surfaces are never solid, and begin to dust and crumble, so it is never possible to claim that they are ‘well-maintained’ or that the materials within are ‘contained.’ These surfaces undergo constant heat, rain, sun, jumping, running, and impact.”

This means that children who play on this rubber surface will eventually be exposed to whatever chemicals and metals are in it. Again, waste tire material, like that in poured-in-place surfaces, has been shown to contain 11 carcinogens and 20 irritants. Many of the irritants are lung irritants, and with so many of our children having asthma, it is not good to expose them to additional irritants.

EHHI has been warning about the dangers of waste tire rubber products for over 10 years. When will people start listening?

Nancy Alderman is the president of Environment and Human Health Inc., a nonprofit based in North Haven.