SPECIAL STATEMENT

It’s important to remember, we all touch plastic with our hands or mouths every moment of every day. The mass majority of the time, we touch artificial grass with our shoes. Artificial Grass, especially the grade we use for home lawns is extremely safe, clean, durable and long-lasting.

Recently, there has been some confused misinformation provided in the news regarding the governor’s decision to allow cities to ban artificial grass at their discretion. In 2015, Governor Jerry Brown allowed artificial grass to be installed in all cities and counties within California for drought reasons. At that time, there were no quality requirements for the turf to be installed. However, companies like ours, Lawn Kings, have kept up with the latest testing for heavy metal and lead content in American laboratories. We believe this is a positive development that helps maintain high standards within the artificial grass industry. Companies like Lawn Kings have met all requirements for the highest quality turf that exceeds regulations and is safe for use.

In October 2023, the current governor, Gavin Newsom, made a statement about artificial grass possibly having issues. He mentioned that turf may not always be ideal in all applications. However, the general public, in some cases, misunderstood his statement. It does not apply to most residential installations, as crumb rubber is primarily used in sports applications for fall and impact protection. It is a separate component used as infill for the grass blades. This is what the governor was referring to as potentially dangerous at high temperatures if there is any water runoff into our water table below. The governor also mentioned nylon or silicone turf, which does not apply to the components manufactured in our turf for residential installations. Instead of rubber, we recommend and sell coated quartz sand that is nontoxic, safe for families and pets, and has antimicrobial properties to prevent the growth of bacteria, mold, and mildew. We do not use or sell rubber for any reason. We have the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for this, along with Prop 65 certifications for our infills.

The “forever chemicals” known as PFAS are found more abundantly in items used outside of the artificial grass industry in our daily lives, such as food storage, packaging, plastic utensils, plastic water bottles, and even frying pans. We are not suggesting that artificial grass should ever be put near your mouth or accidentally ingested for any reason. However, we are making a comparison to items like straws that most people use every day, which have now been found to be safer in some cases than the new paper straws that have been identified as containing “forever chemicals.” Even large coffee companies and brands now have to label their cups as containing cancer-causing materials, as recognized by the state of California. As we know, California is the strictest state in the country when it comes to regulating paints, emissions, and fuel additives. While this is a good thing, as most of us come into contact with plastic throughout our regular day, from door handles to phones to cups, we feel that our artificial grass is much safer than the alternative of having a natural lawn, which often requires fertilizers and pesticides that are known to cause cancer.

In addition to being safer, our artificial grass also saves costs for watering, gardening fees, and eliminates concerns about children or pets inhaling, touching, or ingesting these other cancer-causing products. Our artificial grass is much softer to play on for children compared to alternatives like gravel, rock, or hardscape such as pavers or concrete. We even offer padding that can be placed under the turf as an additional safety precaution, if the customer chooses. Our synthetic grass is also fantastic as many people have allergies to a natural grass Lawn and have found water runoff has polluted and contaminated surrounding areas from pesticides and dangerous fertilizers like weed and feed that contains herbicide. Our artificial grass also has better drainage in most cases than a natural lawn, and does not provide a habitat for bugs like mosquitoes, or spiders to feed or breed as another reason to choose artificial grass over a natural lawn.

Governor Gavin Newsom is simply allowing each city to govern and decide whether artificial grass can be installed, with the discretion that it meets the highest standards of quality. Here at Lawn Kings, we comply with the guidelines set by the Synthetic Turf Council, which also stays up to standard with their own testing and requirements. We provide the best artificial grass with the newest technology available on the market. Our grass is ideal for areas where natural grass cannot grow or where there is a lot of wear and tear from pets and other activities enjoyed by families and friends. Lawn Kings complies with all regulations and offers the highest quality and most realistic artificial grass on the market.