Many parents agree that raising children in an eco-conscious environment keeps them healthy and teaches them to live responsibly. Having a playground with rubber mulch flooring is just one more way to show children how important it is to live safely and responsibly. Actions speak louder than words; there are many ways to incorporate green and healthy living into daily routines that will infuse children with the importance of this concept.
Recycle
It sounds so simple, but many people don’t do it. In order to teach children to recycle it is important to have a separate trash can for recyclable objects, with different colored bags or some other obvious differentiation. One of the milestones that are part of growing up is learning to throw garbage into the trash can. In the same vein, children can be taught to differentiate between regular garbage and recyclable objects, and place them in the right can. Children should also be taught to throw out less and try to reuse more. Using recycled rubber mulch in playgrounds is a great way to show them that parents practice what they preach.
Eco-Friendly Wrapping Paper
Using wrapping paper that gets torn and thrown away is a great way to practice in conspicuous consumption. There are many other options that are inexpensive and practical. Reusable shopping bags, like the ChicoBag is one alternative, as well as a new product by Cascades, of Canada. The new wrapping paper is 100% recycled and comes in a variety of colors and designs. One of its best features is that the paper is not rolled around a cardboard tube in the center, making it entirely eco-friendly. Due to the absence of the tube the roll looks smaller, but it provides the same amount of paper as a regular roll. The wrapping paper sells for $12 for three rolls, a fair price.
Eco-Friendly Toys
The eco-friendly toy industry is an entire entity, with many companies vying for parents’ attention, but it’s often hard to distinguish between toys that sound eco-conscious and the ones that really are. Plan Toys is one of the few companies that are trustworthy. The toys are made in Thailand, out of kiln-dried rubberwood. They may not be as fancy as the generic toy brands, but they aren’t plastic, and they offer the same educational value.
Outdoor Play
It is a good idea to get eco-friendly toys for the kids, but an even better method is to let them play outside. Rather than sitting with computers and video games, the healthiest way for kids to play is by enjoying the outdoors and mulch-floored playgrounds in a truly natural and healthy fashion.
Governments around the world are becoming aware and, in turn, making others aware of the necessity of recycling and going green. A large push is made annually in the weeks after Christmas, when thousands of homes house dying Christmas trees. In days of old, people just left their trees out with the trash. In today’s day and age, however, local and state governments are urging homeowners to recycle their trees and keep the planet healthy.
Right after Christmas New York held their annual Mulchfest, where people were able to drop their trees off at numerous parks around the city and have them ground into mulch chips. Other states and counties are following suit. The Coloradoan reports that January 17 is the deadline for homeowners to recycle trees. Residents are asked to remove all ornaments, lights, strings, wires, fake snow etc. before taking the tree to one of the drop-off points. The city will process the trees into mulch for gardening and landscaping purposes, which will be free for the public in the spring at Larimer County Landfill. At the Hamilton-Wenham Green, one dollar from each tree recycled will go to help local charities, a way to pass on the goodwill.
Old Christmas trees are turned into wood mulch for gardening, but using rubber mulch is also an eco-friendly way to garden and floor playgrounds. Rubber tire mulch is made from tires that have breathed their last breaths. Another form of recycling, rubber mulch has many excellent uses, and is just as eco-friendly as the wood chips that are made out of Christmas trees.
While the majority of the government sponsored programs that recycle used Christmas trees turn them into mulch, some cities have other ideas. In St. Louis, for example, the trees are drowned in marked areas of lakes. The trees on the bottoms of the lakes become homes for thousands of fish for years to come, providing protection from predators and a gathering place for fish to feed and spawn. Since state laws a few years back prohibited counties from throwing trees into landfills, different municipalities have come up with creative solutions. Like other cities, the trees that are not thrown into lakes are turned into landscape mulch.
On a whole the number of recycled trees has dipped over the years, but some counties say that the worsened economy may have attributed to the figures because as the prices of fresh-cut trees rise, more people turn to artificial trees.
By recycling their Christmas trees, people have a chance to let Christmas live on, by giving the gifts of health and life to planet earth.
Public parks are meant for children to play in, and it’s a real pity when they’re left to rot. The Daily News reports that for the past three years, Community District 18, which consists of Canarsie, Platlands, Mill Basin, Bergen Beach, and Marine Park, has earned the distinction of being lowest in cleanliness and general conditions. This data is compiled by the city’s Parks Inspection Program, which rates city parks based on litter, graffiti, playground equipment, and general conditions. Aside for being unsanitary, parks that earn low marks can also pose danger hazards for the children playing in them.
In cities especially, where grass is hard to come by, children spend lots of their time in city parks, and are subject to the conditions there. A growing awareness is being made of the need for rubber mulch flooring. Aside for aesthetics, rubber mulch is a necessary part of any commercial playground that is serious about playground safety.
Playsafer rubber mulch is used in the White House playground, an example that cities should follow. Available in different forms including rubber chips, rubber bond surfacing, rubber wearmats, and rubber curbs, the rubber flooring for playgrounds suits any need. A major consideration in any city or commercial expenditure is budgeting. Rubber mulch shows high returns, with little maintenance required and a long life span. An investment in rubber mulch is an investment for the future.
Rubber surfacing is recommended for city playgrounds because its high shock absorbency makes it a safer option, helping to prevent injuries in children. It is also entirely eco-friendly, made from recycled rubber and other sustainable materials. The use of rubber mulch satisfies all the concerns faced by a city, namely, safety, budget, and eco concerns.
When people plan their playgrounds or landscaping, often the last thing that comes to mind is the curbs that will be used to surround landscaping, playground equipment, or sandboxes. However, this is something vital, and if not done correctly, the curbs can break and allow mulch or sand to leak, creating a mess out of carefully planned spaces.
Often the best curbs are rubber, for a variety of reasons. Rubber curbs are more pliable than wood, and don’t weather the way wood does. They can be bent to fit any shape with little effort. Rubber playground borders are also more resilient than wood, and eliminate the danger of splinters in children. The neutral brown tone of Playsafer rubber curbs make them compatible with any playground or area, and they come in many lengths. An added perk of rubber curbs is that they are interlocking and stackable.
While wood curbs require expert installation, rubber curbs and rubber wearmats are easy to install and come with safety caps and spikes. After spending a pretty penny on a new playground, saving on installation is always welcome. Rubber curbs also benefit the grass, mulch, or sand they are surrounding because they dry and drain quickly after rainfall. It is a known fact that wood curbs decompose over time, allowing weeds to trample them and drive them into the ground until all signs of their existence are gone. Rubber, as a synthetic material, does not decompose, and will have a longer life span, proudly guarding the sandbox.
When children visit a new playground, all they see is the gleaming new slide towering above them, and they don’t stop to think about all that goes into a beautiful playground. Be sure to install rubber curbs so that your playground will retain its neat, shiny new look for years to come.
To an amateur, a garden in the winter looks neglected, like the owner left it to fend for itself, and come spring, will renew the beauty once more. However, a lot of planning and preparation goes into a garden before the winter hits, to ensure that it will survive the season, and blossom once more in the spring. There are some gardening basics that must be done once the trees start to turn colors, such as weeding, spreading mulch, etc. Gardening in the fall allows you a chance to enjoy the crisp weather, and keep your garden healthy and happy.
First, it’s important to weed your garden and start a compost pile for dead annuals and vegetables. Be careful that weeds don’t creep into the compost pile, so that next year’s garden will not have weeds. While cleaning out the garden, dig fertilizer and soil amendments into the soil so that it will be ready for next year’s planting.
Spreading a fall fertilizer will keep the grass healthy during the winter and protect it from the elements, as will spreading a layer of good quality mulch. Some gardeners stick to the classic wood mulch, but many are turning to rubber mulch. Rubber landscape mulch is more weather resistant, and will better protect the grass and soil during the winter. Rubber, as a non porous material, allows water to flow down to the roots rather than absorbing it along the way, like wood chips.
Rubber mulch is also eco-friendly, a cause that is embraced by gardeners worldwide. Made from recycled rubber, the landscaping material saves space in landfills by reusing old tires. Fears that toxins in the tires would leach into the ground have been unfounded, as the benefits far outweigh the cons. Rubber mulch is more pricey than wood chips, but it’s important to keep in mind that it also requires no maintenance, and does not have to be replenished annually.
It’s important to keep raking leaves and cutting the grass, as fungus can grow in long grass during the winter. By running the leaves over with a lawn mower, you are manufacturing more compost, or you can pack the crushed leaves around plants.
While preparing, think about what worked this past summer, and how you may want to change the layout or different elements of your garden. Plants or flowers that have to be planted in advance should be seeded now, and you should plan the layout of next year’s garden. Until then, your job is to help your garden huddle in to survive the cold winter.
When a simple household product is used by someone of great influence or who is under public scrutiny, the item in question suddenly becomes well known. This is where the idea of celebrity endorsement comes from. Sometimes a product may receive endorsement simply through the free choice of the celebrity using it, without the company paying for advertisement. This is the case with rubber mulch.
When Barack and Michelle Obama moved into the White House, as with all Presidents and First Ladies, they put their personal touch on the residence. In their case, this included a White House vegetable garden and playground, among other amenities. After being contacted by the National Recreation and Park Association, they chose to put Playsafer playground flooring into Sasha and Malia’s playground. There is almost no greater endorsement than being used by the Obamas, and this resulted in a big boom in the rubber mulch industry. Why did they do it?
The Obamas are advocates of the Green Revolution and making this world a safer place for our children. Rubber mulch is made out of recycled tires, offering a perfect solution for tires that otherwise take up space in landfills. There are many benefits to rubber mulch, one of which is its added playground safety. Unlike wood chips that have been used in the past, mulch has an added measure of shock absorbency, helping to prevent numerous injuries in children. Other benefits are its cost effectiveness and low maintenance, and customized colors, but safety of the environment and our children comes first. The Obamas have shown that by choosing to use rubber mulch in the White House playground.
Naysayers argue that the mulch covers the ground, allowing it no oxygen, and that there is the potential for chemicals to leach out of the rubber tires. However, studies have proven otherwise, and the Obamas have embraced this new solution to wood chips that lead to deforestation. They chose Playsafer rubber mulch above other manufacturers for their excellent service, low prices, and high tech methods of producing rubber mulch.
For city and personal playgrounds, Playsafer rubber mulch is now the way to go. If it’s good enough for the President of the United States, it should be good enough for you.
For most people, summer is a time of vacation and relaxation, but for thousands of families each year, it can be a time of medical strife. The National Safe Kids campaign reports that one in four kids ages fourteen and younger sustain medical injuries during the summer that require medical attention. They have also found that forty percent of all injury related emergency room visits, and forty-two percent of all injury deaths happen between the months of May and August. The statistics are chilling, and a frightening wake up call for parents everywhere. There are easy ways to help prevent the principle causes of injuries to children.
Playground Flooring
Is your playground really as safe as you’d like it to be? Studies have shown that rubber mulch is the safest playground flooring on the market. Rubber mulch looks like wood chips, but is made out of recycled rubber, providing an alternative that is friendly to kids and to the environment. The flooring has shock absorbing properties that help prevent injuries in children. Rubber mulch in your neighborhood playground can be the difference between sprained wrists or merely bruises. Check with your neighborhood parks department that the parks and playgrounds in your area are equipped with rubber mulch.
Keep Them Hydrated
Kids are often very busy having a good time, and forget mundane details such as meals and drinks. It is vital to keep your children hydrated with water, especially during long periods outdoors and at the pool. Dehydration is a leading cause of emergency room visits for children, as their small bodies retain less water than adults, and they can rapidly dehydrate to dangerous levels.
Helmets
Whether it’s on a scooter, bike, roller blades, or the like, a helmet is vital. Helmets can be the difference between life and death. Dusk is a particularly dangerous time, as drivers have lower visibility, and may not see a child before it’s too late. Make sure that your kids don’t leave the driveway without a helmet on.
Write to your local officials to ensure that rubber mulch is used in community playgrounds, and keep a large stock of water on hand at all times. Make sure that your kids’ helmets fit well, and are in good condition. Keep your summer experience happy and healthy with the necessary safety guidelines in place.
More than 200,000 playground injuries end up in the emergency room every year. Don’t let your child be next! This may seem extreme, but it is true. Schools around the
U.S are installing Rubber Flooring in their playgrounds to insure their students safety. Rubber Mulch is a smart choice for schools because it’s economical and lasts long.
That’s good because with all the headache that comes with running a school, owners don’t want to be bothered with dealing with the flooring of their playgrounds. At the
end of the day, everyone’s happy. The owners of the schools feel confident that they are doing their best to keep their students safe and the kids actually enjoy it too!
It’s fun and colorful and easy to run around on. If anyone falls, it ends up being a light bounce, as opposed to a hard bang. Parents can relax too, knowing their kids
are safe at school.
Surprisingly, 90% of playground structures are considered unsafe! This may seem freightening being that kids spend most of their time out on the playground and even justoutdoors! You can put Rubber Flooring anywhere your kids play. If you have an empty lot with cement flooring, where the kids bike, skate, or play ball, you may
want to seriously consider Rubber Bonds. The kids are bound to fall, and they will definitely feel more comfortable knowing how soft and bouncy, yet still strong and
sturdy, Rubber Bonds are. As parents, you too will feel much more relaxed when your kids play outside. The injury rate will definatiley decrease!
Rubber mulch is installed on surfaces such as playgrounds, gardens and backyards so as to make a rubber covering on them. Rubber mulch is usually prepared from used tires and thus is eco friendly in nature. It is really a very useful product as it reduces the possibility of accidents that are taking place on such hard surfaces at your swingsets. Recycling of the old tires and manufacturing rubber mulch from them is really a great idea.
Rubber mulch is a multi device. You can also use it as an alternative to wood mulch. It is really a latest technique that uses waste material to prepare a very useful product. The best thing about rubber mulch is that it is much more durable. It lasts for long and can be used for years. It has no affect of bad weather. Rubber mulch is neither blown away by stormy winds nor is it washed away by heavy rains.
Seeing the increasing demand and excessive use, some people have started preparing this superb product at home. It just requires some guidance along with few tools and some supplies. There are various benefits of rubber mulch. Some of them are as follows.
As the Safety Director and a doctor, he was concerned. “I see plenty of bone injuries in my practice and felt that we needed a better solution. We decided that wood fiber was no longer a safe or environmentally sound choice for our children. We chose to use “Playsafer” rubber mulch manufactured by Rubberecycle. I immediately noticed a difference. The surface is unbelievably soft and dry! I feel comfortable knowing that our children are much safer while playing on the tot lot.”
The Obama’s use the same Playsafer rubber mulch at The White House and Dr. Sommerer has the surface at his own home too. “It is a great safety and environmentally conscious example for others to follow. We also felt that in the spirit of Arbor Day, it was a great educational tool to show the children how to save their environment. We wanted to encourage them to do their “green” part by using a recycled product. The Toms River East Little League continues to nurture future champions on and off the baseball fields.”
The new surface sports the team’s colors: blue and black. RubbeRecycle supports this team and others in their efforts to go green and to go safe when it comes to our kids.
It is often seen that children get injured playing on hard playground surfaces. They spend good time playing on the playgrounds or backyard or some other place and get injured playing out there.
If you are just fed up of their injuries and don’t want them to get injured any further then the best way is to install rubber mulch on your playgrounds. This will act as a cushion on your playground surfaces and will reduce the impact of fall.
Kids usually fall from a swing or slide while playing and sometimes gets badly injured. Rubber mulch ensures their protection and keeps you tension free while your kids are playing on hard playground surfaces.
The shock absorbing capacity of the rubber mulch bounces your kid back when they fall on it. This reduces the risk of your kid getting injured.
Rubber mulch is easy to install and can be used anywhere. You can install this great playground equipment on your playgrounds, backyards or any other such place where your kids like to play and get injured again and again.
Rubber mulch being a superb thing is just perfect for all seasons. It does not get blown away in heavy storms, do not get washed away in rain and even does not rot due to any other reasons.
It is simply perfect for all surfaces and does not melt. The best thing is that rubber mulch does not attract insects. This keeps it clean and safe for your kids to play on them.
Rubber mulch is easily available at Rubberecycle comes in various attractive colors and designs. It just has one negative point that it is highly inflammable. While installing rubber mulch on any surface make sure that it is not near any place where it can catch fire.
