Is There Toxic Lead in Your Child’s Playground Mulch?

How DC Playgrounds Underscore A Nationwide Concern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QobQksI3dRI

When we think about lead these days, most of us think about the tainted water supply of Flint, Michigan. Unfortunately, there are also other ways children are exposed to unsafe levels of lead. Recently, parents around Washington, DC learned toxic levels of lead had been found in the rubber mulch at their children’s playground.

What Happened on Washington, DC Playgrounds?

A local news team at ABC7 was the first to uncover the contaminants in an investigation about poison playgrounds. The 7 On Your Side Investigative Team gathered samples to send off for testing, and the collection process was observed and certified by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. This ensured the integrity of the rubber materials collected.

The samples of rubber mulch from area schools were sent to Ann Arbor, Michigan’s Ecology Center, and what they found raised the alarm to red alert. There were two school playgrounds that had disturbingly high levels of lead.

At one elementary school playground, almost 30% of the tire-derived rubber mulch had levels of lead greater than 400 parts per million. The other had 7,000 parts per million. Both are unsafe, but one is far larger than what the Environmental Protection Agency deems safe – 300 parts per million.

The Ecology Center then reported the shocking findings to DC’s Department of General Services, and ABC7 broke the news to their viewers. As a result of the fear and backlash, the DC Department of General Services promises to test every playground under their jurisdiction by the end of January 2020. They did just that, and as of March 2021 you can read the full Department of General Services PIP test results report for more info.

A good summary of the lead found in DC school playground surfacing can be found here.

Currently, there are 139 playgrounds surfaced with crumb rubber.

National Implications of Toxic Lead Findings

The DC story is hardly the first time harmful levels of toxins were found in what’s supposed to be protective equipment. Just earlier this year, the city of Boston found out their kids were being exposed to toxic levels of lead in tire-derived mulch.

Twenty-eight different playgrounds with sand, wooden mulch, soil, or rubber were tested. The findings showed 2 to 3 times the amount of lead in the rubber than any of the other surfaces.

The fact is that no amount of lead in a child’s bloodstream is safe, and this is frequently stated by those in medical circles as well as the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor (where the DC rubber mulch was tested). The CDC agrees, and warns even low levels of lead impact educational success, ability to concentrate, and IQ.

Starting in 2016, this long-time fear of parents began to trickle up to the EPA. They gave the job of figuring out the safety of tire-derived rubber mulch to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the CPSC has been running focus groups as a part of a larger study on the safety of tire-derived rubber. Hopefully, the result will be more regulations for the safety of our children.

Unfortunately, the business of getting rid of unwanted tires is a large industry. According to the EPA, the United States creates 290 million pieces of unwanted tires every year. As of now, 22% of crumb rubber (recycled tires) is used in playgrounds. That’s the second-highest use of tires behind sports fields, also frequented by youth.

Additional Toxicity Issues with Recycled Tire Playground Mulch

Lead is not the only issue with recycled tire mulch on playgrounds. There are other harmful effects of exposing children to shredded old tires. Did you know we in the United States aren’t supposed to throw our old tires in landfills due to the chemicals, yet our children are exposed to them at least 5 days a week for the majority of the year?

Lead is not the only contaminant found in playgrounds. Studies have shown the rubber in tire mulch is broken down over time into our soil and water supply by brown and white rot. This is despite being touted as permanent.

Here is a short list of a few more toxins in tire waste:

Latex – An increased number of children and adults experience latex allergies that range
from mild irritation to death.

Phthalates – These are chemicals used to soften plastics. They
interact with human hormones and can have negative effects on the lungs, kidneys, liver, and reproductive system, especially in males.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH’s) – Breathing in PAH’s are suspected by the EPA to cause cancer and birth defects. This happens when the temperature rises and the chemicals are released.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) – VOC’s are key components of ozone and smog. 

Children experience exposure to these compounds with respiratory issues, allergies, and immune problems. There can also be headaches, nausea, and liver and kidney damage. VOC’s can also affect the central nervous system.

2-Mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) – This chemical is used to soften the rubber of tires into a malleable material. 2-MBT has been ruled as a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization, as well as a skin irritant that causes contact dermatitis.

You Can 100% Know What is in Your Child’s Playground Mulch

Many companies that produce mulch for playgrounds use recycled rubber tires. Unfortunately, some companies do not question their supply chain or test their resulting mulch for toxicity. There could be a tire from the U.S. mixed in with a tire from another country, and one could be non-toxic and the other could have high levels of lead and other contaminants.

Then, when all the tires are chopped up together, there is no guarantee each resulting playground surface will be safe and non-toxic. Some might have high levels, others less so. That’s why even just a few foreign tires in the mix can lead to a level of lead high enough to cause health issues.

Jelly Bean Rubber Mulch avoids the problem of variable toxicity by taking the necessary steps to ensure quality control and safety. This brand of protective rubber mulch is not even made of tires. It comes from shredded pieces of 100% non-tire, wire-free, lead-free, non-toxic playground safety tiles.

Part of what ensures Jelly Bean Mulch meets all federal and state safety requirements is their practice of testing all the supply flow before it ever reaches a rubber chopper. This ensures every piece of rubber used in the final product is non-toxic resulting in a safe surface for your children and peace of mind for you.

Rubber Tire Mulch Removal

What is rubber tire mulch, and why are schools, parks, daycares, and churches choosing to remove it? Our CEO did an interview recently that discusses everything from the origins of the product to how and why rubber tire mulch is being removed, to what playground rubber mulch is non-toxic and wire-free.

In the video you’ll learn:

Watch now and give us a call or fill out our quote form if you have any questions.

https://youtu.be/mp8GEDK-gBw

Here is a transcript of the above video for your reference:

Clark: [00:00:00] Hey Clark here with Nic Campesi, Nic how are you?

Nic: [00:00:02] Hey Clark, how are you?

Clark: [00:00:03] Doing great Nic. I’ve been seeing a lot more stories in the news about rubber mulch removal. Can you give me an idea of why schools parks and private businesses are removing rubber mulch more now than ever?

Nic: [00:00:18] Well, what you’re starting to see I mean in the last few years really there’s been a lot of traction in the media on the potential drawbacks here of tire mulch. And you know what what’s happening is you know there’s they’re starting to see the coating comes off the stuff kind of breaks down and you’ve got kids running around with black tire dust. And you know the guys who are compounding tires they’re certainly not thinking about kids well-being when they’re making a tire. They’re worried about making a good quality tire so people are starting to become aware of the things that are in tires probably not being the best idea for kids to be rolling around in them.

Clark: [00:01:02] Sure. And what with rubber mulch removal what are the steps to actually removing it off the playground? I mean I know you don’t actually do it yourself but give me an idea of roughly what’s involved in it?

Nic: [00:01:13] Well you know and I’m really just speaking from experience because we’re fielding multiple calls per day of people who are calling asking us about this. And you know typically you’ve got to identify OK what we have to get rid of and what are we going to replace it with. And ultimately you know the first step really is is OK we’re going to remove it then you know product actually you know of what’s going back there. And you know I’m kind of simplifying it into stuff. You know there was a lot of things to take into consideration but you know one really being you know hey guys what are you going to do with that rubber once you take it off. And you know most most people are finding that you know you just basically load it up and landfill it.

Clark: [00:02:04] And what would be the cost ballpark to remove rubber mulch from an average-sized playground?

Nic: [00:02:12] It’s really hard to say. I mean I’ve seen some astronomical costs in some city budgets you know thousands of dollars tens of thousands of dollars per playground. You know I’m talking like you could buy a car per playground now a nice car at that. However you know realistically I think if someone saying look this rubber mulch you know has started to break down we need an alternative here. You know I think we’re we’re seeing people spending probably a couple of thousand dollars for a contractor on an average size playground you know and then maybe maybe a couple thousand dollars on the disposal cost.

Clark: [00:02:52] Sure. Sure. And if you know a manager is listening to this facilities manager or someone’s involved and they’re going to have to deal with rubber mulch removal. Do you have any information or ideas for them to what to do before they start?

Nic: [00:03:08] Yeah you know I mean there’s there’s a couple of things that I’ve had people you know specific to our product how they move forward. You know we’ve seen some people you know basically just take the rubber and they say they’ll just take like our virgin rubber and just throw it on top. You know it’s really not what we recommend because the whole idea is to get rid of this dirty rubber and we wouldn’t want it mixing in and so you know if you’re just going on to say we don’t want to disturb it we don’t want to dispose of it we’re going to save some money we’ve had some customers who have put like a very high grade poly woven cloth down and in a sense they kind of created a barrier to you know forever kind of bury this rubber keep it underneath the playground but then come back with like a virgin Jelly Bean rubber on top put like another six inches on top. And then you know you get out of the disposable cost you get out of the you know the removal. I mean in a perfect world I would say let’s get this nasty stuff out of there. Remove it clean it out and start over fresh. But ultimately you know I think that you know it is a close second just to be good if you can figure out how to seal off. And the way to do that with a very high grade weed barrier cloth.

Clark: [00:04:30] OK. And what’s interesting here is you mentioned Jelly Bean rubber. That’s your product. Can you give me some information about Jelly Bean rubber and why or why not this would not have to be removed like some rubber mulch is being removed?

Nic: [00:04:44] Well you know the whole issue with rubber mulch being removed and why some of it’s testing and bad with heavy metals and whatnot you know rubber mulch is from a tire. That product is a post-consumer product. So you’re going to get quite a bit of contaminants from the roadway you’re going to get a lot of possible petrochemicals that could have been picked up and then you know it takes one tire that picked up something nasty from the roadway to a car. You know just even one piece of that contaminant got on one playground that can be spread between multiple playgrounds. And so you know what we’re doing here, we’ve got a virgin rubber product that we know where it came from. We know exactly what’s in it and we know that it’s all safe for children. And that you know 20 years from now it’ll still be safe for children to play on.

Clark: [00:05:43] Right. And in terms of popular replacement products for when the rubber mulch removal happens I’m assuming Jelly Bean is one because you’ve mentioned a lot of people call you as they’re in the process of removing the rubber or before what other ones would people consider when when removing rubber mulch and having to put a play surface down?

Nic: [00:06:03] You know I mean the Jelly Bean rubber is really a sweet spot product. It’s got the cleanliness the non-toxicity of virgin rubber but it has head impact attenuation the the good safety ratings and lack of allergens is you know it’s going to give you a much higher rating than really any other products. You know what we see people doing if they’re pulling tire mulch out there they kinda are. They’re looking at us hopefully. But the other two options would be you know you go to like a virgin rubber tile system OK. This is kind of like you know what we’re making you know we’re using the trimmings and the tiles that don’t meet spec to make our product but you know if you go with a full tile system the problem is just that you know there are four times the cost of our product. Which you know is just for most people is just not an option. And then you know so sometimes they’ll make the mistake we feel of going into like a wood product you know organic wood mulch and you just get back in you know to lower fall ratings. You get issues with mold mildew contamination from from other sources and it’s just cost you know recently. Well you know I think when we last talked Clark we were talking about the Jelly Bean product is one fourth of the cost of wood mulch over 20 years. And so it’s a big it’s a big financial setback if you go back to wood mulch when you already had rubber.

Clark: [00:07:36] Yeah absolutely. And it’s been very helpful. I’ve got two more questions for you. First for people that might be listening to this that are wondering about their case. Their kind of facility where has Jelly Bean been installed in in place of rubber mulch or someone that was considering putting rubber tire mulch down like has it been installed on school playgrounds or parks. Where has it been installed?

Nic: [00:07:59] You know really all over I mean recently you know I can I can just you know I can think of I think of a handful of places you know. But you know one of the you know we had a couple of colleges schools couple of children’s institutes that have said you know what we’re taking this stuff out and we’re going to come back in and put your product in. It’s really been across the board. You know we had some more high price profile clients and you know there’s been a lot of cities going to give you an idea like the state of Connecticut put a moratorium on putting rubber in their parks system right now. And so there’s there’s a lot of people really for almost every state who’s you know expressing concern over having old dirty tires on their playground, rightfully so.

Clark: [00:08:53] Right. And my last question for you is you know if somebody is kind of in this process of rubber mulch removal or rubber tire mulch removal. Oh can they contact you even maybe they need advice or maybe they want to know more about your product. How can they get in touch. How would you like them to get in touch?

Nic: [00:09:11] You know absolutely. I mean you know I think the easiest thing to do is is this if you want to call our office direct at any time you can certainly be so our direct line in the office is 8 7 7 2 4 9 8 8 1 8 or you can go to Jelly Bean Rubber Mulch dot com and fill out a contact form. We’d be happy to help you out.

Clark: [00:09:38] Awesome Nic. As always this is very helpful. I appreciate the time.

Nic: [00:09:41] Alright, thanks Clark.

Clark: [00:09:42] Thank you.

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Jelly Bean Publishes Article Highlighting Potential Dangers of Rubber Tire Mulch as a Playground Surface

Underscores Need to Analyze Toxicity, Paint Life, Steel Wire Consistency, and Long Term Cost

Houston, TX February 16, 2018 – Jelly Bean CEO and Founder Nic Campesi published a detailed article this week on the hazards of using rubber tire mulch as a playground surface.

The article details four potential hazards of using rubber tire mulch as a playground surface – Toxicity and Road Residue, Paint, Steel Wire, and Cost.

“There didn’t seem to be a lot of information on common issues I’ve seen with rubber tire mulch as a playground surface. So it made sense to put pen to paper here and outline them for administrators, business managers, and of course parents to review as part of their procurement process in sourcing safety playground surfacing,” explains Campesi.

With recent rubber tire mulch removal campaigns across the country from Durham, NC to Minneapolis, MN, public interest in exactly what the product is comprised of has grown substantially.

“I’ve filled a good bit of orders from schools looking to replace rubber tire mulch at the three-to-four year mark after having issues with keeping the paint on, and everything that comes after that paint goes off, like potential contact with toxins, paint leaching, steel wire exposure, and so forth,” notes Jelly Bean CEO Nic Campesi.

The EPA is still in the process of conducting a comprehensive study on using tire rubber as a play surface, and there are no conclusive studies to show the product to be toxic. Yet with elevated concern among parents and administrators, the company felt it was time to publish an objective review of the product compared to others in the market.

Read the full article on Medium.

For more information or to get a quote on Jelly Bean Rubber Mulch visit www.JellyBeanRubberMulch.com or call 877-249-8818.

About Jelly Bean Rubber Mulch

Playground surface Jelly Bean is a 100 percent wire-free pre-consumer virgin rubber mulch product. The material is sterile, latex free, and contains no such carcinogens or harmful VOC’s as tire mulch could. Jelly Bean is so safe it’s in compliance with California’s indoor air quality standards. The product is odorless,100 percent free of contaminants and does not hold heat. Jelly Bean offers an industry-best safety rating exceeding CPSC guidelines for fall safety, and surpassing traditional playground coverings by hundreds of percentage points. All these reasons show why parks and schools nationwide choose Jelly Bean Rubber Mulch for their play surfaces.

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Rubber Tire Mulch – Hazard or Harmless?

As I travel across the country I’m seeing more and more playground surfaces comprised of rubber tire mulch. Chances are you’ve seen the surface at schools, churches, and public parks.

At first blush, the popularity of rubber tire mulch makes a lot of sense. Less degradation than traditional mulch, more and brighter color options, and great fall safety ratings. Even The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Public Playground Safety Handbook offers a stamp of approval for rubber tire mulch as a play surface. At the same time, my experience in the safety play surface industry tells a much different story.

In short, my customers’ dealings with the product has shown rubber tire mulch is not optimal as a safe play surface for children. Nobody is saying tires, whole or recycled, are killing people per se. However, there are some legitimate concerns that are worth reviewing when it comes to rubber tire mulch as a play surface.

Looks can be deceiving. As rubber tire mulch is transformed from worn out filthy shreds of disposed scrap to candy-colored nuggets the approximate size of wood mulch, the patina of a safe product begins to take shape. As the tire mulch is installed, and kids joyfully play on it, a narrative of recyclable success is easy to glean. But, what’s underneath the shine of newly installed rubber tire mulch? What are the possible health effects of tire rubber? Specifically, how much do toxicity, evidence of steel wire, and long-term cost play into the calculation of installing rubber tire mulch on a playground at a church, school, or public park?

Toxic Rubber Tires

Rubber tire mulch is a post-consumer product. The intent in the production of tires is to gain traction on a roadway, not serve as a pillow for kids as they play. Tires are of such concern to states like Georgia, that their localized version of the EPA has a whopping 17 different applications and forms to fill out for the transport, reuse, and disposal of tires.

A tire is a tire, and after an initial life of use on the road, it is no longer virgin rubber. The tire compounder is not designing a product for your child to play on, and thus things like red list chemicals, and fillers that are respiratory irritants, exist. If a child encounters any of this it could be a liability for the institution housing the playground.

Contamination from roadways is also a serious concern. What could tires encounter on roads? Petrochemicals, lead contaminants from roadway paint, heavy metals, and oils to name a few. With the known risk of exposure to toxic chemicals that tires regularly encounter there’s no guarantee rubber tire mulch is safe for kids to play atop of.

Steel Wire in Rubber Mulch

Many rubber tire mulch products advertise being 99.9% wire-free leaving the chance for pieces of exposed steel wire to be in every ton delivered.

While steel wire performs well to keep an inflatable tire road-ready, it is absolutely a hazard for children. From potential cuts to small children eating it, any steel tire wire on the playground is too much steel tire wire on the playground.

Cost of Rubber Mulch

Rubber tire mulch has two costs, the initial cost, and the long-term liability cost.

Initial cost for rubber tire mulch is between $5 and $7 per cubic foot. A 6,000 sq ft playground would require 5,000 cubic feet of surfacing. Taking the lower number into account, a school, church, or public park could spend tens of thousands of dollars to purchase and install the product.

Long-term liability cost is difficult to calculate without the benefit of hindsight, but factor in removal fees after paint degrades, and costs can add up fast.

A group of parents asked a Duluth, MN school district to spend $380,000 to remove rubber tire mulch from 10 playgrounds. The school board voted unanimously in approval of the effort. The additional $38,000 per playground removal fee does not include the replacement surface cost. A single playground that should have a surface with a 25-year warrantied product on it for say $30,000, will now end up costing many multiples more. Factor in potential legal and medical costs for any issues kids might encounter from playing on rubber tire mulch, and you have to really think long and hard about the value of the product as a play surface both for now, and in the future.

Taking a Common Sense Approach

Rubber tire mulch continues to be a popular surface choice despite the troubling evidence found in the publicly available information on the topic. For school administrators, PTO and PTA officers, business managers, church leaders, and county council members it is time to take note.

Due diligence of any play surface pre-purchase is important, and for a post-consumer like rubber tire mulch, it’s doubly so. By doing so you will be avoiding costly replacement efforts and potential liabilities tied to rubber tire mulch in the months and years to come.

Get a Quote Today

If you’re in the market for playground rubber mulch give us a chance to present you with a no-obligaiton free quote for your playground today.


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