If you have young kids or work at a school that has an outdoor jungle gym, you’ve probably noticed that lots of places are foregoing traditional wood chips that used to be sprinkled below the area of play in favor of a newer, more eco-friendly and more technologically advanced option: rubber mulch.

There are plenty of reasons why you should choose rubber mulch to line the play area under your jungle gym. One of the leading advantages that many turn to is safety. How many times have you seen a kid fall from the monkey bars and scrape their knees? With rubber mulch, your kids’ bones and joints are protected by a bouncy, resilient, mattress-like cushion when they fall, which means that injuries are much less common and much less severe on a rubber mulch playground. Plus, scrapes and cuts are virtually nonexistent – the rubber mulch is soft to the touch, unlike stone or blacktop, and won’t break the skin when a child falls.

From an eco-conscious perspective, rubber mulch is also beneficial since it won’t decompose, meaning you won’t need to get new wood mulch every other year. There’s also no unsanitary buildup of bacteria or mold, something that can happen more commonly in playgrounds that use wood chip fill.

Rubber mulch-lined playgrounds are also good for the environment. In the course of ten years, you’d need to recycle wood chips on a playground eight to 10 times. With rubber mulch, you’ll enjoy the same quality and safety for that whole span. This means that not only are you saving on playground costs, you’re using recycled materials – made from shredded tire sidewalls – and protecting trees from being chopped and shredded to make wood chips.

Rubber mulch is good for the environment, better at keeping your kids safe, and requires less maintenance and upkeep than any other alternative. If you’re still not convinced, head to our rubber mulch benefits page to learn more. Request a quote for your project online today or give Rubber Safe Playgrounds a call at 630-330-6589 to learn more.