Heatherstone gets grant for ‘green’ picnic table

New picnic tables made out of recycled rubber tires and recycled plastic will be installed at Heatherstone Elementary School this fall.

They will be the first such tables to be installed at any school in the Olathe school district, said Bob Courtney, district energy manager.

A $1,098 grant from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment bought the tables. The Bureau of Waste Management awarded about $700,000 in waste-tire recycling grants this summer. Several parks and school districts in the state will get new playground surfaces, benches and picnic tables made from the recycled material. Some of the picnic tables will come from places like Champlin Tire Recycling, KDHE spokesman Mike Heideman said.

Champlin Tire Recycling is based in Concordia and started making products out of recycled tires nine years ago, said Brian Lamer of Champlin Tire Recycling.

The recycled rubber tires are coated with recycled plastic, which makes the tables smooth and easy to clean, he said. It also prevents the recycled tires from staining clothing, he said.

The tables weigh nearly 500 pounds and last longer than wooden or metal tables. The tire tables cost about $200 more than an average metal or wooden picnic table. Tables that have sat on the company’s property for about eight years haven’t faded or needed to be replaced, Lamer said.

“It seems the business is growing all of the time,” Lamer said. “Everyone from Kansas to (out of state) are trying to go green. It doesn’t matter where. Going green helped us.”

More park and recreation departments in Kansas and surrounding states are purchasing recycled-tire tables because they are easier to maintain in a public setting, Lamer said.

“Because they’re so heavy, it is harder for people to walk off with them,” Lamer said.

There are two traditional picnic tables at Heatherstone, and they are used “all of the time,” Principal Ruth Waggoner said.

The tables are used for studying, reading groups and writing activities, she said.

“Right now the district is so focused on going green, so that was an attractive part of this grant,” Waggoner said. “Basically we are creating another place for kids to learn.”

The opportunity to apply for a grant “just fell in” Julianne Bell’s lap, the school’s parent-teacher organization’s playground chair.

Picnic tables were one of the more common requests in the last few years from faculty and staff members.

“It was interesting to me even more because it was a green option,” Bell said. “I’m all about anything we can offer as far as conserving and recycling, so I didn’t hesitate.

“It is encouraging to me that the money is out there, and if you are serious enough it is worth the effort in trying for it.”