MUD. It’s glorious, is it not? If our son came back from the playpark with cheeks aglow and covered in mud, we knew he’d had fun.

So what if the clothes had to go straight into the wash and the boy had to be immediately hosed down?

Alas, mud seems to be another casualty of the superclean and – literally – sanitised times in which we live.

The Eden Project in Cornwall has installed plastic grass in a children’s play area to stop kids getting muddy.

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Yes, you read correctly. That’s the Eden Project whose mission statement says it is dedicated to improving collective understanding of the connections between all living things … fresh air, clean water, fertile soil, rich biodiversity.

The educational charity and social enterprise aims to “create a movement that builds relationships between people and the natural world to demonstrate the power of working together for the benefit of all living things”.

Presumably this includes plastic.

An Eden Project spokesperson said: “To ensure the safety of the children enjoying this temporary play area, we took the decision to use durable and soft artificial grass that will be reused many times over. Real grass, in this context, would become mud within a few hours and therefore would not have been sustainable.”

Research shows that plastic grass – which is mostly made from a mixture of plastics – polypropylene, polyurethane and polyethylene – increases the heat in areas where it is used. When it breaks down it can release into the environment microplastics which are thought to be harmful to humans.

The Eden Project is one of a number of organisations and public bodies laying artificial turf in what environmental campaigners say is an epidemic of plastic being laid. There was a surge in interest across the UK in buying artificial grass during lockdown, according to data on Google Trends.

Just before lockdown some new neighbours moved in. They busied themselves chopping down trees and landscaping the garden, building new fences and laying new slabs. But despite their obviously serious work ethic, lawn mowing is not among their labours of love. Where there was once grass, their property is now cloaked in swathes of fake turf. It’s a sight to behold, but not in a good way.

The growing trend of installing plastic in place of natural lawns comes as artificial grass retailers are making environmental claims about their products.

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The latest development is artificial grass known as “air”, which manufacturers say is capable of purifying air pollution by oxidising organic components and malodours at a molecular level.

Or is that just hot air?

Campaigners describe this as greenwash and point out that natural grass already “cleans the air” via photosynthesis, absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. It also helps rainwater drain away, surely a major benefit in a damp climate. Grass also provides habitats for insects and worms and attracts birds.

It also attracts children. Added mud a bonus.