In the world of fashion trends come and go with the seasons, and designers rise and fall like the tides, riding the waves as long as they can before looking for new inspirations. Currently, a major trend is the use of rubber in fashion apparel and accessories. Rubber accents take ordinary designs and raise them to the level of funky and contemporary. This new trend is one that holds significance, giving designers and marketing groups the opportunity to promote the benefits of recycling rubber to be reused for playground mulch and other constructive purposes.

Watches

Rubber is the latest craze in watches, with designers combining rubber with metal, ceramic, and stones for an edgy, contemporary look. A popular rising star is Ice watches, based in the UK. Ice watches are primarily made of silicone and plastics, and come in shocking colors for emphasis and a funky spin on the traditional watch. The concept of rubber in watches is quickly being adopted by many designers.

Jewelry

The latest trend in jewelry is fake, chunky pieces with oversized accents. Rubber is leading the trend, with rubber jewelry that comes in all different colors and styles. It is not for nothing that the height of society is drawn to products that are touted as completely green, made of recycled materials. Rubber, too, can be easily recycled, and what better way to pronounce your devotion to Mother Earth than by sporting it in your accessories?

Shoes

The rubber shoe concept was first introduced by Crocs, and has since taken the shoe industry by storm. The company Melissa specializes in high end rubber shoes, including pumps and dress shoes. Hunter is another highly successful rubber boot company. Rubber shoes are often made from recycled rubber, and are stylish, comfortable, and well-priced.

There is no better way to show support for the environment than by wearing your heart on your sleeve, literally. Wearing clothing and accessories that are made from recycled materials help promote the concept for which recycled rubber mulch stands, and helps clean up planet Earth, one recycled tire at a time.

Summer is right around the corner, and with it comes the serene thought of sun soaked beaches and endless vacations. The fact is that many people need vacations, albeit small ones, more frequently than once a year. There are constant stresses that come up in life, and to function at full efficiency a quick vacation is necessary every so often, giving one time to rejuvenate and reenergize. There is no better way to achieve this relaxation than by spending a day at the spa – a spa that is safe as well as soothing.

Whether it’s a short manicure or a deep muscle massage, the pampered feeling is second to none. There are countless spas everywhere and sometimes it’s tough to choose the best one. Spa safety can be a factor that is easily overlooked in the face of foaming tubs and soft music. However, the wrong spa can pose many safety hazards. Spas may be careless with the ingredients they use, resulting in unnecessary chemical usage, while others don’t provide a safe enough environment. The flooring in a spa is of great concern because there are many areas where the floor is constantly wet, and patrons walk around in flimsy slippers that provide little protection. Every spa should have rubber flooring in the pool and Jacuzzi area because the added traction can help prevent injuries related to wet floors. Bathrooms and locker rooms should also feature rubber floors for the same reason.

Many spas sell themselves as ultimate vacation spots where one could drive a short distance from home and be transported to a calming environment. Such a trip requires virtually no planning and is decidedly cheaper than a pricier cruise or island stay. Nobody wants to plan a vacation that ends in injury. It is supremely beneficial for spa managements to seriously look into this option since it is safer, and therefore can be a selling point for potential customers, especially more elderly patrons. Another great selling point that comes with rubber flooring is the eco-friendly angle. Rubberecycle flooring is made out of used tires that are recycled, rather than burned, making the planet healthier and safer. Many spas are centered around the natural and beautiful, and eco-friendly flooring is the perfect finishing touch.

History defines cultures, nations, and people. Many historic inventions have changed lives and continue to be sources of pride for countries everywhere, even becoming symbolic of the country.

Rubber was originally used by Indians in Haiti as soles to waterproof their footgear. Today, Indian rubber drives billions of dollars in commerce through thousands of products. There’s a new twist that has been put on rubber manufacturing that is essential for these times, and that is rubber recycling. Playgrounds, the birthplace of fun for children, are one area that enjoys the benefits of recycled rubber mulch. Rubber bond is also used in sports arenas and gymnasiums, and many other areas. By taking old, worn-out rubber and reusing it, planet Earth is made a better place to live, while simultaneously enhancing people’s lives.

Cotton has a rich American history dating back to the mid 1700’s, when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. At one point it was the largest American export and the lifeblood of the South. Today many countries worldwide boast huge quantities of cotton exports and the need grows larger every year. Natural cotton can also be recycled and reused, creating enormous potential for recycled goods.

China, today one of the world’s largest exporters, has for years held a monopoly over the manufacture of silk, and they are still the largest manufacturers of silk today. For years during ancient civilization silk was confined to China. That changed with the opening of the Silk Roads. While silk has a long and storied history, it will remain a symbol of Chinese skill and innovation.

One must consider the success in the rubber mulch industry and copy it over to every industry possible, with cotton as just one example. As people get smarter and more educated about the problems this planet faces many will begin to take up environmentally friendly business ideas and put them into practice. Wall Street, pay attention, the Green Revolution is coming your way.

It’s that time of year: the weather is getting warmer and the trees are starting to bloom. Because spring has made an early entrance this year many are getting a head start on their spring cleaning, airing out the house from the dust and junk that’s been collected over the course of the winter. While spring cleaning may seem like an arduous task, with proper organization and a method to the madness it can be fun, and a great way to air out the house in anticipation of summer.

Work from the Outside In

If you start cleaning your home from the inner rooms much of your junk will end up dumped in the garage, then you’ll push off cleaning the garage, and you’ll be left with a mountain of junk that is too terrifying to tackle. Start with the garage itself, choosing a nice warm day when the kids will be happy to be outside helping. Unload everything and wash down the walls and floors before systematically putting it all back, evaluating what should go and what should stay as you work.

You’re bound to find old used tires and other useless rubber as you work. Instead of dumping it, do the environment a favor and donate your used tires to a rubber mulch company. You’ll be helping the environment by recycling, and the rubber will be used for high quality rubber mulch flooring. In fact, you may even consider installing a rubber floor in your garage while you’re at it.

Once the garage is clean you’ll have a hard time dumping your junk there, and it will go where it belongs – in the garbage.

Bins and Boxes

Bins and boxes can be a great help in the organizational process. Once you’ve cleared out a shelf look at the items to see what sort of storage you need. Measure the shelf so you know how big of a bin you can purchase, and head to Target or your nearest major retailer. Neatly labeled bins will make everything easier to store and find.

Assigned Spaces

Assign specific clothing drawers for each child, even if some children share clothing. This will help prevent confusion and fights in the morning rush. Giving each child their own junk bin or drawer will also offer them a sense of pride and responsibility, and is instrumental in the maturing process. It also offers a sense of privacy in crowded spaces.

Reevaluate

Everyone has objects lying around that fade in with the wallpaper after a while, until you don’t notice that it’s there. Reevaluate everything you see from a visitor’s viewpoint as you clean, and decide if it does something for your home, or just adds to the clutter. You’ll be surprised how much junk you have that does nothing to help the décor at all.

Spring cleaning can be a labor of love and a fun family activity. It’s up to you to make sure that it is!

This year’s mild winter gave many cyclists the opportunity to ride bikes a lot more than in a conventional winter. Professional bikes can be expensive and hold personal value. It is important to maintain the bike properly so that it lives a long life.

During the winter a bike should not be stored in the house because frequent temperature changes between the cold outdoors and warm indoors could cause moisture to condense on the inside of the frame, leading to rust. Repeated freezing and thawing can cause components to come loose or, in the worst case, crack. This can also make minor imperfections in the frame’s finish become major cracks. Instead, store it in a garage or some other cold shelter.

Bare concrete is not a friend to rubber tires on bikes; it draws moisture out of the rubber of the tires, causing dry-rot and premature aging. If you must store your bike with the wheels on the floor, try to find a non-concrete floor or put rugs or rubber wearmats under the wheels. Another good option is to hang the bike by a wheel from a hook that is drilled into the wall.

Beware of road salt which is highly corrosive to the bicycle’s frame and metal components. Make sure you wash your bike before storing it for the winter, or wash it regularly if you are riding all winter long. Bikes stored in garages should also be dusted off regularly because cars coming in and out of the garage bring in road salt.

When riding, beware of the ever-present potholes, as they can bend your rims beyond repair, and newly minted potholes present a double hazard – the chasm itself, and the chunks of shattered pavement around it, which can puncture your tire. Batteries for accessories like your lights and cycling computer may have a shorter life in the cold temperatures.

It is always a good idea to carefully maintain a well-used bike just as you would a car. Once the tires’ life is over, don’t dump them, do the environment a favor and recycle them, to be made into rubber mulch.

Rubber mulch is manufactured only after a tire has been worn to death and has traveled the world. It is a long journey from the plantations where rubber is harvested to the playground mulch that graces the neighborhood playground.

Natural rubber, also known as India rubber or caoutchouc, is tapped from trees like sap. An incision is made in the bark and a collection bucket is secured to the tree with tire. A sap-like substance that is the natural from of rubber seeps out of the tree and is collected in the buckets. Different plantations and regions have varying specific methods of collecting the rubber and processing it.

Rubber trees originally grew in South America. In 1736, samples of rubber were introduced to France. It was only in 1770 that rubber samples arrived in England. Joseph Priestley observed that it was good for rubbing off pencil marks on paper, hence the name ‘rubber’. Over the years, the seeds of rubber trees traveled to England, Indonesia, Malaysia, and other countries. Today, much of the world’s rubber comes from India.

After a lengthy and precise process of collecting natural rubber, it is shipped to destinations around the world. Because the cost of natural rubber has risen, the shipping method with the lowest cost is preferred. It may be shipped in steel drums, ISO tanks, Flexitanks, or using other methods, depending on the manufacturer’s needs and specifications.

Rubber has many uses in our lives today, in everything from rubber boots to sealants around windows. Perhaps one of the most important functions of rubber is for tires that power trucks and cars, and after that, rubber mulch flooring. Rubber mulch is used for safe playground flooring, landscaping, horse arena flooring, and shooting ranges. Rubber mulch only comes into being after a long journey from the plantations in Asia.

Rubberecycle mulch is known to be the gold standard in eco-friendly products, made from recycled tires. However, buying commercially manufactured products is not the only way to recycle and reuse. There are many cost-effective and environmentally responsible ways to recycle goods right in your home, and come out with great results.

Table Centerpiece

Parties always consume lots of waste, what with paper and plastic paper goods, party hats, and other paraphernalia. Table centerpieces can be made in a way that is easy, economical, and eco-friendly using coffee bean and pinecones or ferns. Just take a shallow glass dish and pour in a layer of coffee beans. Then add pinecones, small scented candles, and green ferns for a rustic wintry look. Different forms of mulch can also be added to the mix. When the party’s over save the coffee beans for later use and set the pinecones and ferns aside for compost.

Cup Cozy

Running to work, majority of the population enters the office clutching a cup of Joe, with a cardboard cup-holder cradling the cup. Each day’s cardboard holder adds up to a large stack of cardboard that is wasted. You can use old jeans to make a fun, trendy cup-holder that will last through the long winter; its life should be as long as rubber mulch, which is renowned for its long life. Use your last cup-holder as a template to cut out a scrap of denim. You can use leftover fabric to line it, and after sweing the two pieces together, secure the cupholder with a pony holder and a button.

CDs Reinvented

Making the switch to digital media will leave you with a pile of old cds that are now useless. What better way to use them than for decoration? Cut the old cds into squares and use them to decorate anything, such as mirrors, picture frames, vases, and more with mosaic designs. When cutting, you may get irregular shaped pieces. No sweat, you can use them for more interesting designs in your mosaics.

Keychains for Kids

All those old candy wrappers and used snack bags may come into good use in decorating your children’s knapsacks and pencil cases. Simply microwave the used snack bag; then punch a corner with a strong hole-puncher and thread a key-ring through. The result is an adorable keychain that is made of recycled plastic.

As the rich get richer and technology gets more advanced, there are more and more creative ways to conserve the environment’s resources. A house for sale in upstate New York is a prime example of this. Located within walking distance of the Mohonk preserve, which offers 1,000 acres of scenic hiking and rock climbing, this home rotates on its axis to make optimum use out of solar energy.

The home that is now for sale for $1.2 million is a wooden, dome shaped structure that resembles a spaceship. Each season, the home is rotated for maximum efficiency of solar rays. The home was built using a kit from France called Domespace, and is the only one of its kind that has been built in the U.S. It is made of honey colored wood and features bamboo floors, with high ceilings and long sloping windows that keep the space bright and airy. It consists of two floors, with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and living space on the first floor. A central spiral staircase leads to a second floor which houses the master suite, office, and balcony.

This may seem an extravagant way to try to go green, but there are simpler ways for the average consumer to keep the environment healthy. Rubber mulch is made out of recycled tires, and is great for use in playgrounds, landscaping, and horse arenas. While it costs a little more than wood chips, many users have found that the rubber pays out for itself within a short time because it is very durable, and needs little maintenance and no replenishing. The average home can be made more eco-friendly with recycled rubber mulch used in the front lawn as part of the landscaping, and in the backyard playground. Using rubber mulch is a practical way that anyone can help the environment without spending $1.2 million.

The Green Revolution is all the rage today, as companies come up with innovative ways to recycle. Rubber, in particular, is being recycled more and more, with second and even third lives. Rubber is a substance that is easy to recycle due to its hardiness and the many uses it can have. Rubber tires are one of the main sources of recycled rubber, as tons and tons of rubber is given new life rather than rotting away.

Recycled Rubber Bracelets

Imagine that, rubber as jewelry! Uncommongoods.com offers a unique holiday gift for the nature-lover on your list. Rubber bracelets designed by jewelry designer Elizabeth Hake are made from bicycle tires and other recycled rubber. They feature funky shapes and chrome embellishments that are a real statement. The bracelets are well priced at forty dollars.

Rubber Mulch for Playgrounds

Rubber mulch is the latest and best in playground flooring. It comes in the form of chips, or a solid version known as rubber bond. Playsafer rubber mulch is a preferred brand, as it is proven to offer superior playground safety, with extra shock absorbency. Rubber flooring also comes in various colors, is odorless, and does not stain kids’ clothes.

Rubber Pavers

Recycled rubber is also found in the flooring industry in the form of pavers and mats. Tiles made from rubber are durable and water resistant and can be used to easily and cost effectively pave garden walkways, driveways, pool sides, and other areas. Rubber mats are popular for use on decks and in mudrooms. There is much variety in this field, with flooring that interlocks for easy self installation. The rubber pavers come in designs of bricks, octagonal tiles, and much more.

With a large amount of recycled rubber products on the market today, it is easy to help the environment while achieving your personal goals of beautiful products that are also affordable.

Going green is all the rage these days, but some people take it to a new level, investing thousands, and even millions of dollars into houses that are energy efficient. It is understandable to purchase rubber mulch flooring for playgrounds, as the material is recycled, and safer, and this can be done for any playground, personal or public. Get a load of these outrageous eco friendly homes.

Plastic Bottle House

Yup, you read right. The Honduras-based company Eco-Tec is building a series of houses that are constructed from plastic bottles that are filled with mud and bound together with a cement mixture, for construction that is cheap and long-lasting. We hope. A standard plastic bottle house is made of 8,000 plastic bottles, and features rounded designs and architecture. Who would have though your recycled bottles would go toward such a worthy cause?

Recycled Tire House

As of now the recycled tire house looks more like a one-bedroom hut, but this house, like rubber mulch, makes use of rubber tires that are past their prime. The tires are stacked and filled with insulating materials for extremely thick walls. Maybe some time in the near future rubber mulch chips will be used in place of bricks…

Orchid House

The Orchid House is located in England, and is to date the most expensive green house sold, at $14.2 million. It is built with cutting edge designs, and is made to resemble a bee orchid, a flower often found on nature reserves. The Orchid House supplies more energy that it consumes, with a geothermal heating underground pump. Numerous other intricate details make this an ultimate eco friendly house.

Cliff House

Designed to be off-grid, this house is situated right on the precipice of a huge cliff. It features a hybrid wood/solar radiant heating system with propane backup. Other extremely advanced techniques make this home the ultimate in responsible living.