Rubber

It’s bouncy and may remind you to change your snow tires. It also may be the newest feature at parks across the city.

Lawrence Parks and Recreation crews recently installed chopped-up rubber tires underneath the new playground equipment at Clinton Park, Fifth and Alabama streets. It’s the first time the city has used the recycled material instead of the traditional wood mulch.

There’s a reason why parks and recreation leaders are taking the new material out for a spin: weeds.

“We’ve really struggled with weed invasion since we’ve switched to the pesticide-free program,” said Mark Hecker, city parks superintendent. “Weeds have become a larger problem.”

After several citizens urged the city to adopt a pesticide-free park program, city crews no longer spray Round-up to kill weeds near playground equipment. Instead, they’ve been sending crews out to pull weeds, or let them grow.

Now, they’re trying the “rubber mulch,” which goes through a process that seals the chunks of tires so that they don’t leave a black residue on hands or clothing. They also pass through magnets to remove the steel belts in radial tires.

This city is testing the product at Clinton Park and HAND Park near 24th Street and Haskell Avenue. Although the material costs about 2.5 times more than mulch, Hecker thinks it could be cost-effective. That’s because the city adds mulch to the playgrounds annually, and replaces it every three years. The rubber mulch is supposed to be maintenance free for up to five years, Hecker said.

If 10-year-old Starra Zweygardt were in charge, she would be ordering more rubber mulch.

“They’re a lot better than the wood chips because when I played on them (chips) barefoot, I was like ‘ow, ow, ow,’ ” Starra said Wednesday at the park.