A U.S. History of Plastic Play Surfaces, 1964-2026*

Between 1964 and 2026, more than 16,000 artificial surfaces have been installed on U.S. recreational space, according to estimates. Yet there is no viable way to dispose of these surfaces when they harden and become unsafe, within 10 years.

Sources: Wikipedia - Artificial turf (general history, early installations) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_turf Wikipedia - AstroTurf (timeline of early stadium installations) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AstroTurf NIH/PMC - Synthetic Turf: History, Design, Maintenance, and Athlete Safety (peer-reviewed historical overview) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6299344/ SABR - The Rise and Fall of Artificial Turf (MLB stadium history) https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-rise-and-fall-of-artificial-turf/ Synthetic Turf Council (industry data from 2013-present) https://www.syntheticturfcouncil.org/ Science History Institute - Turf Wars (11,000+ fields figure) https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/turf-wars/
Chart: Dave Moore MediaSource: Dave Moore MediaGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper