Mahwah Swapping Out School Playground Tire Mulch For Wood Chips

MAHWAH, NJ — Tire mulch at three school playgrounds will be replaced with wood chips.

The Board of Education's Finance and Facilities Committee recommended that the tire mulch playground surfaces at George Washington, Betsy Ross, and Joyce Kilmer schools be renovated.

The wood chips will be installed on top of the tire mulch, which will be confined or encapsulated before the wood chips are brought in, school district officials said in a statement.

"The rubber mulch provides excellent impact absorption while the compacted wood mulch delivers an environmentally friendly, aesthetically pleasing, clean" and compliant with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, officials said. "This solution responds to parents' concerns about surface temperature, odor, direct contact with the rubber mulch and stains on their children's clothes."

Specific details need to be worked out, but officials said all three playground surfaces would be renovated by the fall.

Superintendent C. Lauren Schoen recommended to the board that the district replace the mulch.

Parents are concerned that the mulch may be hazardous to kids' health. A group of them in March cited an independent analysis by Yale University that found 11 known carcinogens, heavy metals, including lead, and 20 skin and lung irritants, from nine different samples of rubber mulch taken from playgrounds.

Schoen said in March that the Mahwah Board of Education "maintains its facilities in compliance with all acceptable state and federal laws."

Related: Mahwah Parents Want Tire Mulch Removed From School Playgrounds

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com