Here's a recent article on rubber mulch:
Playground to try recycled-tire mulch Material not as likely to attract bugs and rats
A mulch of recycled tires soon will be under little feet at Kids Place in Cole Park. The popular children's play area is the first city park to get tire mulch installed, said Billy Delgado, the city's superintendent of parks and special projects. The blue rubber mulch has been ordered and is expected in about a month. The mulch comes in small chips of shredded tires and is used in place of wood mulch in landscaping and as protective cover under playground equipment. It is safe, cleaned and shredded for use in playgrounds and in landscaping, said Ray Curran, superintendent of park maintenance. It has been cleaned and all the metal pieces removed. The tire mulch also may help cut down on problems with bugs and rats. Curran said the manufacturers say it will, but he's waiting to test it. ...
A mulch of recycled tires soon will be under little feet at Kids Place in Cole Park.
The popular children's play area is the first city park to get tire mulch installed, said Billy Delgado, the city's superintendent of parks and special projects.
The blue rubber mulch has been ordered and is expected in about a month.
The mulch comes in small chips of shredded tires and is used in place of wood mulch in landscaping and as protective cover under playground equipment.
It is safe, cleaned and shredded for use in playgrounds and in landscaping, said Ray Curran, superintendent of park maintenance. It has been cleaned and all the metal pieces removed.
The tire mulch also may help cut down on problems with bugs and rats. Curran said the manufacturers say it will, but he's waiting to test it.
...
Read the full article
I never thought about the vermin factor before. Do people have problems with bugs/rats infesting their playgrounds?
One alternative to consider if you are still interested in rubberized surfacing but are worried about vandalism are rubber tiles. This would allow you to replace individual tiles if they were damaged. I would assume this would be easier than replacing poured-in-place EPDM rubber, but quite honestly don't know those cost comparisons. Tiles are generally slightly cheaper as well, though not by much, and, of course, you will not be able to do colored designs the way you can with poured-in-place. Engineered wood fiber (EWF) is certainly much cheaper than any rubber options, and while easier to replace if vandalized, does require more maintenance to keep it's accessible qualities.
The larger issue is obviously a concern about vandalism. While we can't do anything to totally protect against such damage, there are community-building and community-engagement techniques that can significantly reduce the chance of vandalism on your playground. For instance, I recently led a project where vandalism had been occurring on the site before our build took place. With an organized effort to reach out to parents and community leaders, including a door-to-door awareness campaign, the playground organizers were able to craft a message that emphasized the playground was being funded and built by volunteers and not by government/public funds. They had police assist them in talking to local teens suspected of the crimes and encouraged them to take ownership of the park in protecting it. Nearly 3 months later, I am happy to report, there have been no further cases of vandalism.
On another project, a middle school campus bordered a playground that had recently been constructed. Within a week after the construction, teachers after school caught teens destroying a shade structure and breaking picnic tables. Large, free-standing plywood murals had also been painted and would've made perfect targets for the stone-throwing that was taking place. However, they kids interestingly enough did not damage these murals. The only logical explanation that the principal could offer was that due to the reverence for murals in Hispanic culture, and given that the offenders were first and second generation Hispanics, they had consciously or sub-consciously decided not to damage these murals. The point of the story is, if a playspace is designed with reflections of the local culture, it is much more likely to be respected and maintained. It would've also helped if we had of actively sought to include the middle school students in the design, planning, and building process.
We did do this on a skatepark build in Oakland, where again, a huge mural was hung on the fence surrounding the park. Many had been concerned about the likelihood of this mural being "tagged." To combat this prospect, we invited the teens around the park and adjacent community center to take part in the painting the mural. On build day, we invited them to also take responsibility in carrying the piece and hanging it. It took more than 20 kids to lift and carry the 16'x8' mural. They had to work as a team, in a coordinated effort to move the piece without damage. Afterward I asked one of the planners, "Should we hang this higher to avoid it being tagged?" One of the youth turned to me and said, "Don't worry about it; we painted and carried this thing--none of us are going to touch it and we'll make sure no one else does either." It's been 2 months since that project was completed and the mural has not been tagged or damaged.
You can find more great ideas for using a participatory, asset-based approach throughout our website. Check out our toolkit and our service-learning curriculum examples. If there is a We Play! coming nearby, sign-up for one of these KaBOOM! workshops. There are also other great organizations and institutions that focus on community development. One that KaBOOM! has worked with is the ABCD (Asset-Based Community Development) Institute out of Northwestern. The Tipping Point, if you haven't read or heard of it, also has a great example of how New York city turned around some of the rampant vandalism taking place by keeping on top of maintenance and removal of graffitti and damaged property. It showed that people cared about the spaces that were being damaged and that the type of behavior would not go unnoticed and that the community would not be defeated by such destructive acts.
Whatever you end up doing to combat vandalism, please remember to share it here on our forums and website so others can find inspiration and wisdom from your experiences. Best of luck and happy playground planning!