Designing Greener Playgrounds
Explore a New Level of Design Freedom
Design freedom and increased sustainability are not mutually exclusive; they go hand in hand. Our playground solutions can be as colourful as your heart desires – but with a dramatically reduced carbon footprint.
Alexander Sundberg Architect MAA and Solution Design Manager, KOMPAN
Playground Design
Complete Design Freedom
Are you a landscape architect seeking groundbreaking possibilities for your next project? Our innovative playground solutions offer unparalleled design freedom, allowing you to unleash your creativity like never before. Modern playgrounds are highly dependent on virgin raw materials like plastic and aluminium. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop and shift to more environmentally friendly alternatives – and the solutions are already here.
EcoCore™ HDPE Panels
Now in all Colours
From 2024, all panels in CircularHDPE boast various hues derived from carefully selected, recycled materials. Each shade tells a story of environmental stewardship, proving that recycled waste can be seamlessly woven into every design without sacrificing aesthetics.
The panel in the colour teal is made from post-consumer ocean recycled waste collected from the maritime industry, such as fishing nets, ropes and trawl nets. All other colours are made from post-consumer household waste. Using CircularHDPE panels made from >95% post-consumer recycled waste instead of panels made from virgin plastic reduces carbon emissions by 82% CO2e/kg.
Explore, Learn, Design: Greener Playgrounds
Read and learn more about our approach on working with recycled materials in playground components
The new look of a reduced carbon footprint
Architect Alexander Sundberg assures that TexMade™ posts and plastic alternatives, developed from textile waste and post-consumer sources, rival steel and plastic in durability. Playground solutions can be as colourful as your heart desires – but with a dramatically reduced carbon footprint.
Setting the Green standard
Welcome to a discussion on the evolving landscape of playgrounds – an essential aspect of childhood that now takes a turn towards responsible materials and practices.
In this magazine we'll delve deeper into the specifics of these materials, exploring the benefits they bring to playground design and their positive influence on the overall environmental footprint of these spaces.
Replacement of raw materials
We continuously work to reduce our usage of raw materials by replacing them and instead using recycled materials that emit fewer carbon emission. We work with a two-way approach: Made Green and Born Green.
What's the difference between Born Green and Made Green materials?
KOMPAN Born Green
means that the products are made from natural hardwood such as robinia. Robinia is very durable and has natural protection against rot and fungus, so it does not require chemical wood preservatives. It is a fast-growing tree that is found in large forest areas in Eastern Europe. KOMPAN Robinia products comply with EUDR requirements and can be supplied with FSC® certification (C004450).
KOMPAN Made Green
products are made from materials with at least 51% and up to 95% post-consumer recycled materials, such as recycled fishing nets, used textiles, food packaging, used plastic bags, etc. In producing KOMPAN Made Green products, we continuously work to increase the proportion of recycled materials. The process and improvements are well documented, and the products are third-party verified.
Built to last
Highest quality materials
CircularHDPE panels
Our 19mm CircularHDPE panels are made from responsible materials that are not only recyclable after use but also made from >95% post-consumer recycled waste.
UV-protected coloured outer layers
Highly durable in any environment
Supported by a lifetime warranty
Decks & Steps
All our equipment decks are supported by uniquely designed low-carbon aluminium profiles with multiple attachment options, increasing their strength. Our grey-coloured moulded decks and steps are made from 75% post-consumer recycled polypropylene material with a non-skid pattern and textured surface.
Tempered Corocord™ rope with CircularYarn
Ropes come with galvanised six-stranded steel wires and a steel core, impossible to wear through. Each strand is tightly wrapped with CircularYarn in >95% post-consumer recycled material, which is melted onto each individual strand, making the ropes highly wear resistant and vandal resistant.
Galvanised steel
Our steel surfaces and steel frames are hot-dip galvanised inside and outside with lead-free zinc. The galvanisation has excellent corrosion resistance in outside environments and is maintenance-free.
Roto-moulded items (e.g. slides and seats)
Our moulded plastic items are made from 33% post-consumer recycled material in all colours. The teal-coloured items are made from recycled fishing nets from the maritime industry. All items are moulded in one piece, providing strength and minimising weakness caused by joints.
Robinia wood
Robinia wood is a very strong and long-lasting material with a very high level of natural oils. Due to this robinia wood makes long lasting durable playgrounds which are close to maintenance free. KOMPAN robinia products can come with FSC®-certification (FSC C004450).
Posts
Main posts are available in five different materials.
1. Impregnated pine wood with an in-ground steel footing.
2. Galvanised steel with powder-coated top finish.
3. Colour-anodised lead-free aluminium, made from low-carbon aluminium.
4. TexMade™ posts are made from >95% postconsumer recycled textile and plastic waste.
5. Low-carbon pre-galvanised steel posts made from 80% post-consumer recycled material.
Q&A on recycled materials
All recycled qualities are better to use if the alternative is using new/virgin material. However, when choosing between a post-industrial or a post-consumer quality, the post-consumer type saves much more CO2e. It is a harder job to use post-consumer qualities. With post-consumer qualities, you must collect, sort, and clean the waste before it can be used again. But the material is saved and can be used again, saving the environment from new /virgin material entering our world and preventing the waste from going into the waste incineration or landfill.
KOMPAN is using narrower post-consumer waste streams, like used textiles, fishing nets, and food packaging post-consumer waste. We can control the quality better than if we used very broad waste. The household waste can be a mix of many different sources.
We only use suppliers with the highest quality standards. It is very important that the waste comes from high-quality suppliers. We have a close connection to our suppliers, visiting them regularly. We are also running tests of all materials we are using to ensure high quality. We do not compromise our high quality and safety standards; they fully apply also to our recycled material qualities.
The Ocean waste we use in our products originates from Europa and the Arctic oceans. It is based on post-consumer streams collected from the maritime industry, such as fishing nets, ropes and trawls.
UV protection is added to all our recycled qualities. Some of our post-consumer recycled materials have no added colour pigment; they are the natural colour from e.g. fishing nets. The colour may vary. We only add UV protection and keep the natural colour from, e.g., the fishing nets.
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