Tag Archive for: recycled plastic play equipment

Recycled Plastic Is The Future of School Playground Equipment

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recycled plastic play equipment

I used to have a company called Timberline which manufactured a whole range of play equipment and outdoor classrooms for schools in the UK and as the name of the organisation would suggest, everything we produced was made out of timber. That was a few years ago now.

Then recently on my many visits to see schools up and down the country, I began to notice in the playground that a lot of picnic tables/BBQ tables were no longer made out of timber (as we used to supply them) but out of recycled plastic instead. Some I saw were even in bright primary colours to add a bit more creativity to them.

I happened to be on a trip to Germany seeing a potential distributor over there who took me round a few schools and kindergartens and again I noticed that in every school I went to in that area of Germany they had playground equipment also manufactured out of recycled plastic. I managed to track down the German company who manufactured ad supplied this and after undertaking some due diligence found out that this company’s turnover had increased seven times over a period of just three years! Seven times. And for love nor money could you find a product in their range made of out timber – not even a component.

And that is why we have just developed a new range of trim trail school playground equipment made of out the same material as that afore-mentioned German company. And do you want to know why this is the future? This material has so many additional benefits over and above timber such as it doesn’t rot or decay, it is made from recycled plastic bottles (so instead of filling up landfill and the world’s oceans with this wretched stuff we get to use it in a more positive way and help the environment along the way – pat yourself on the back for that one Eco Schools), it lasts about 10 times longer than timber so some real savings here for a school, children cannot get splinters off it, it is a lot harder to vandalise than timber, you can easily dig the posts into the ground without any fear of eventual rot setting in below the surface and it doesn’t degrade or discolour with UV light.

For further information on this range, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902, email info@hideouthouse.com or visit the website www.hideouthouse.com

recycled plastic play equipment

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Recycled Plastic Playground Equipment

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On my very many travels round schools, I always see picnic benches or tables which are made out of a re-cycled plastic composite material which does actually look like traditional timber, but isn’t. When I ask teachers why they bought these benches, the response is pretty much unanimous – although they are bit more expensive, the benefits far outweigh the extra cost. They last a lot longer, they don’t rot, crack or discolour, they are eco-friendly but most important of all perhaps, they require little or no ongoing maintenance. Which keeps the site manager or caretaker very happy as it just means another job he doesn’t have to worry about.

So I got to thinking that if these benefits of using recycled plastic mean so much to a school, why can’t you make other products out of this material for the playground? And the most obvious contender of course is adventure or trim trail play equipment especially if you develop these products along the sport and PE fitness lines as those nice and generous people in the Dept for Education are giving schools money for this very reason.

My eureka moment therefore came in the form of developing a modular, multi-faceted fitness centre which is manufactured entirely out of re-cycled plastic so that it will last forever, the children won’t get splinters, we’ve done our bit in help saving the planet (this material is 100% recycled)  and the school site managers of this country can now relax safe in the knowledge that it will require hardly any ongoing maintenance. Win win I would say. Oh and the children will be physically challenged which will help them to be fit and healthy.

For further information, please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email simon@hideouthouse.com

The Hideout House Company Ltd

or visit recycled plastic play equipment

Fitness Station

Fitness Station