Turf war: fake grass is growing in popularity in Australia, despite concerns about its impact

Local councils face the need to balance environmental considerations with providing spaces for public recreation and sport, with fake grass a contentious issue. Photograph: Martin Prescott/Getty Images/iStockphoto

For those living in small spaces, artificial grass has its upsides. It’s uniformly green, year round, without the need for watering, mowing or any other upkeep.

The allure of evergreen sporting fields has also seen synthetic turf become an increasingly popular surface, driven by constraints on open space while population density increases.