Parks Go Green

Have you wondered what is means to have a green park in your neighborhood? For the residents of Monahans, Texas, going green usually means painting the wooden park benches a bright Kelly Green to match the large green paw prints painted on the sidewalks. The local football team, the Lobos, has scattered their signature Kelly Green prints throughout the small town as a symbol of the community's pride and support. For many other parks across the nation, going green means finding ways to save money and the environment.

Managers for city parks, municipal playgrounds and even community common areas are making changes to their policies that will reduce waste and use natural resources more wisely. Planting low maintenance ground cover that requires less frequent mowing and watering is just one of the ways to cut back on the amount of fuel used to maintain the landscape. Many plants, like Pussytoes, are showing up in parks. These plants are able to thrive with reduced watering schedules and almost no mowing, although they may require some trimming to keep the thick carpet-like spread from overtaking areas nearby. Some parks are moving away from exotic flowers and lush high maintenance grasses and opting for more eco-friendly green spaces with ground covering for areas that do not have continuous foot traffic.

Another way that community parks are going green is by using recycled equipment whenever possible. Most parks now have recycle bins or baskets next to the picnic table for aluminum cans and glass bottles. Today there are cycle bins that are constructed of reclaimed materials like plastic, metal and wood from old buildings or barns. Some parks have creatively used old barrels, reclaimed oil canisters and sections of giant pipe cut down to reasonable heights. Using recycle bins crafted from recycled materials is two-fold. First, it encourages companies to continue to manufacture products using reclaimed materials. Additionally, it encourages park visitors to recycle. Trash liners made from recycle plastic can be purchased for use with the trash receptacles and recycle bins for a "greener" impact.

Visitors to the park might be surprised to some new seating and resting places furnished with eco-friendly materials. Recycled glass has been used with a special concrete to form a product that makes fantastic outdoor furniture. The end product is a green concrete look that makes an attractive picnic table with attached benches and has been used at some color and texture variations to standard park benches. Glass never fully degrades in the landfill, using these new materials saves space that would be consumed by bottles and jars.

Going green in city parks is becoming more popular; designers and innovative scientists are finding ways to make our efforts more pleasing to the eye. Back in Monahans, Texas, a single bench sits in a small park at the edge of town. Low maintenance desert plants call to visitors to watch the setting sun. They're going green.

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