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!

When making a decision as important as flooring for a gym, there are three things one should look at. At the top of the list is safety; next should be comfort and quality, and last but not least, the cost. Rubber flooring fits these criteria perfectly, beating other types of flooring in every area. Rubber flooring on a basketball court is safe, easy on athletes’ legs, and cheap, as opposed to other options.

This year’s NBA season almost didn’t happen because of the lockout. Yet as the negotiations went on many around the country said, “So what?” What if there wasn’t a NBA season? Last year television ratings for basketball were down all over the country, and attendance levels dipped by as low as twenty percent. It took one week of playing ball by a previously unknown D-league player to bring it all back into focus. Basketball is a great sport and this year it took someone like Jeremy Lin to show that to the sports world. Since he made his debut appearance a little over two weeks ago, he has taken the sports world by storm. His is truly a great story.

Now that basketball is back on people’s minds, one must not forget the importance of safety in this sport. For proof, talk to any New Jersey Nets fan about all the injuries they’ve suffered to their roster – the New Jersey Nets know that playground safety is of paramount importance. Rubber flooring is safer than hardwood, because it provides a layer of absorption as sneakers pound the surface, racing to catch up on a fast break. It is also easier to understand and enjoy the game due to the fact that it lowers noise levels significantly.

The New York Nicks have enjoyed a sterling run on Jeremy Lin’s back, and are hoping to ride it through the season. Consumers can also score big with rubber mulch flooring in gyms for safety, comfort, and high quality play.

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.

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.

Owners and trainers of horses put in thousands of dollars and hours of time into grooming their horses to be the best they can be. One of the most important aspects of keeping horses healthy and happy is ensuring that they have the right flooring to walk on. When building a horse arena, this is especially important, because the horses will train in the arena every day. There are some aspects to be wary of when planning a horse arena.

The surface materials can be two to six inches deep, and the recipe you use will greatly influence the speed  and endurance your horse will master. Recipes vary, including sand, rubber mulch, silt, clay, and other materials. Tire mulch is fairly new to the market, but many are finding that the extra absorbency it has gives horses an extra bounce in their step, and easier landing after jumps. Horse arena mulch should be mixed with other materials for the correct arena flooring.

The arena should be built on dry, flat, and well draining ground. It is advisable to build a shallow ditch around the perimeter of the arena for good draining of rainwater. Keep in mind that a ditch that is too steep could cause erosion of the base soil during real downpours.

Before choosing a surface material, it is important to have an adequate base. The base is the flooring between the earth and the surface material. It gives stability to the arena flooring, carries off rainwater, and acts as a protection between the earth and the surface material. The base should be hard packed, and carry no loose rocks or stones which can be dislodged by horses’ hooves.

The Northeast was subject to an October storm this past week that broke records set by previous storms. Never before had there been an October storm that hit with such power, dumping an unprecedented amount of up to eighteen inches of snow on trees still heavy with leaves. The Governors of Connecticut and New Jersey declared states of emergency, and millions were left without power. Clean up from the store will be costly and time consuming, as people reel from winter’s premature strike.

Newer and well maintained houses and grounds will have an easier time cleaning up from the storm. Schools, especially, will try to clean their playgrounds out quickly so that children can benefit from the end of the crisp autumn weather before winter sets in. Superior playground surfaces and equipment will make the clean-up in commercial playgrounds a lot quicker and easier.

In parks and playgrounds that are floored with wood chips, the wet wood absorbs water and easily gets rotten. Pieces of wood break off and dirty the snow, making clean-up virtually impossible until the snow melts. The splinters of wood littering the snow can also pose as a safety hazard for children. Playgrounds that have rubber mulch surfaces, on the other hand, will have an easier time. As a less porous substance, the rubber does not rot or absorb water. The particles that make up the rubber playground flooring are also more dense, so they stay together, as opposed to wood, which gets strewn about by any storm.

School boards and principals should seriously consider installing rubber mulch in their playgrounds before winter sets in,  because this freak October storm is only the first of many. Rubber playground flooring makes clean-up a lot more economical, and keeps children safe.