7 Reasons to Choose Rubber Playground Bark or Mulch
Playgrounds across the UK are choosing rubber mulch as a superior alternative to traditional, wooden playground bark. With the look of natural bark, but the improved safety credentials, durability, and longevity of a modern rubber surface, choosing rubber playground bark is a no-brainer.
Here are the top 7 reasons to select JungleMulch rubber bark for your playground or park development…
Sustainably Sourced Rubber Mulch
Traditional wood or bark chips are often seen as the best sustainable, natural surfacing solution. However, these are very limited in their effect, providing minimal fall protection, succumbing to mould and damp, and at risk of the loose-fill material scattering, meaning regular replacements are required.
Therefore, it is beneficial to find a sustainable alternative option to optimise your playground’s eco-credentials. Recycled rubber play bark from Playsmart is always sourced from used lorry tires, tested for contaminants and toxic chemicals to ensure they are safe for use in children’s play areas. As well as using recycled rubber, the longer lifespan of the material, with a 3 year product guarantee of quality limits waste and reduces the cost of replacements.
Safety Surfacing Credentials
Playground bark is a common solution for areas with children, providing impact absorption without groundwork. Has limited effectiveness, especially over time when the bark can contain contaminants, get damp or hard, and loose material. Therefore, a rubber bark mulch is the better alternative, providing a year-round surface with greater longevity.
With appropriate sub-base installation, JungleMulch, PlaySmart’s rubber mulch option can provide critical fall height protection up to 3m with a 140mm installation depth. Therefore, this surface is suitable for use underneath playground equipment.
JungleMulch conforms to BS EN1177, BS EN7188:1998 and A2 2009 Ease of Ignition.
Longevity and Durability
Bound rubber mulch is a cost-effective, long-lasting alternative to natural play bark. Bonded rubber mulch, although looking like loose-fill bark, is secured firmly with a durable polyurethane binder. When the surface sets, each rubber bark chip is fixed in place and protected from excess wear-and-tear or breakdown. This is because PlaySmart uses a graded rubber shred with the best ratio of binder to mulch that limits breakdown
JungleMulch is suitable for use all year round- not freezing or forming ice on top. The porous material prevents excess surface runoff and limits the risk of puddling and flooding. An all-weather surface is the best solution for playgrounds and public spaces as these need to be available and safe whenever needed.
Anti-Slip & Accessible Rubber Playground Bark
The larger rubber shreds of JungleMulch mimics bark as an added aesthetic benefit, but this is also key to providing an effectively safe and accessible surface. The unique texture of the mulch surface helps improve grip on shoes and wheels. This ultimately improves the safety of the area and decreases the risk of accidents, allowing for freer movement around the play area with less worry.
JungleMulch is suitable for installation on flat areas, but also mounds, slopes, and tree-surrounds. This creates a secure surface with appropriate grip to help improve wheelchair accessibility for previously difficult to access areas.
Colour Options
Creativity and aesthetics is limited by selecting generic wood bark for playgrounds. Rubber bark is available in a wider range of colours, all reflecting natural environments with subdued colours, but providing a unique colour that makes your play area feel like a more modern, exciting place to play and explore.
Low Maintenance
Another benefit of rubber mulch over natural bark is that it requires minimal maintenance. Where loose-fill surfaces require a lot of upkeep, turning and refilling the bark, rubber mulch, as a singular, firm surface just needs semi-regular sweeping and low-pressure hosing. We also recommend undertaking routine checks of your surface, especially in the most regularly used areas to identify issues before they can become larger problems.
Additionally, PlaySmart provides surface repairs to your surfaces where necessary. Our EPDM wear pads are a great solution for spaces that see too much heavy use. These rubber pads are designed for extra protection to key areas, extending the already long lifespan of the surface. We simply apply these pads on top of the existing surface to reinforce certain areas of the surface, for example, in landing zones under play equipment.
Minimal Groundwork Requirements
Developers often choose bark chippings as an easy way to cover ground, with minimal groundwork and installation, simply scattering it across the surface. But in the long-term, with the regular refills and issues with safety, this choice may not be worth it.
JungleMulch does require more groundwork than play bark, especially for sites that require greater critical fall height protection and therefore deeper installation and subbases. However, with PlaySmart’s professional installers with over 20 years experience, the groundwork is minimally invasive, so you can get your playground back up and running for visitors to enjoy sooner.
Choose Rubber Playground Bark for your Surfaces
Now you know the main reasons why rubber bark mulch chippings are increasingly popular in UK parks and playgrounds. So why not choose rubber play bark to mimic the natural, traditional look of real bark, but avoid the issues of loose-fill for a long-lasting, more accessible surface.
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