Sustainability – Global Recycling Day

Sustainability

Quality and sustainability should be viewed as equals – utilising quality build materials ensure the longevity of equipment and less requirement for replacing parts and product, therefore minimising our impact on the environment. We also weigh this up against play value, products can be made to last forever, but are a waste of resource and precious budgets if they aren’t being played on and loved!

Each year we undertake a site life-cycle costing analysis which allows us to report on spares spend, 90% of our mid to large scale projects have an annual revenue spend of less than £200. This is an important part of our environmental impact strategy, where we review how to reduce our operational impact and our carbon footprint.

Minimise Plastics in Playgrounds – Our products are made from non-toxic materials and we work with a supply chain that continuously strives to reduce their impact on the environment, represented through IS014001 and other worldwide initiatives. Our biggest push is for zero plastics in our play equipment, which we have now achieved with our main suppliers FHS.

We are acutely aware of the restraints surfacing has on being able to achieve a completely zero plastics playground and we are working on finding alternative solutions that offer durability with minimal maintenance for our industry.

Raise the awareness and importance of recycling through play – A good example of a public space as a tool to raise social awareness is the collaboration of Galopin with Ecovidrio, a non-profit association in charge of the recycling management of glass packaging waste across Spain.

The result of this cooperation is a completely customised playground around the character of Mr Iglu, created to engage even the youngest member of the family. The main objective of this project has been confronting a real problem created by our society. The play space brings to life a set of values on how we can be more consciously aware of our impact on the planet and behave more responsibly with greater respect for the environment.

This project plays therefore an important role in increasing awareness around recycling and minimising glass waste and packaging, not only for families but also for businesses and local government.