Ecore Repurposes Gym Flooring for Playground Surfacing

Los Angeles area playgrounds get a sustainable makeover

Ecore International, in collaboration with Equinox fitness clubs and other industry leaders, recently transformed outdated flooring from five Equinox fitness clubs into safe, durable  surfacing for use in Los Angeles playgrounds.

Ecore, a pioneer in rubber circularity, with a long-standing commitment to sustainability, reclaims used tires, transforming them into high-performance surfacing. Ecore and its subsidiaries are the largest processors and users of recycled rubber in the western hemisphere. The Pennsylvania-based company manufactures sports and recreation surfacing, commercial flooring, construction materials, and automotive and aerospace components using recycled materials.

Ecore’s TRUcircularity program, goes a step further, fully closing the loop on end-of-life rubber by reclaiming, recycling and repurposing rubber surfacing, including flooring tracks and playgrounds, to reduce environmental impact.

The Los Angeles project is part of Ecore’s TRUcircularity program. Over the course of two weeks, the team removed old flooring from five Equinox locations in the Los Angeles area and transformed it into safety surfacing for 18 playgrounds in Southern California.

Once the club floor tiles were collected, they were sent to SpectraTurf, Ecore’s partner facility near Corona, Calif., for conversion into new flooring.  SpectraTurf specializes in manufacturing and installing rubberized playground safety surfacing, utilizing both pre-consumer and post-consumer reclaimed material components. The flooring materials were ground down and repurposed into Spectra Pour poured-in-place safety surfacing for playgrounds.

“Initiatives like TRUcircularity are not just about recycling but about creating a sustainable loop where materials are reused and repurposed continuously,” Shweta Srikanth, chief circularity officer at Ecore, said. “A circular economy can’t be achieved alone – it requires partnerships with committed entities. In this case, Equinox, L.A. County and Ecore were equally invested in driving the success.”

Equinox has been a long-standing partner with Ecore Athletic, using its flooring solutions across multiple locations. From indoor and outdoor sports and recreational tracks and courts to fitness, functional training; health and wellness; and therapy/rehab spaces. Ecore surfaces provide durability, performance and noise absorption in countless design aesthetics, Equinox said.

Flooring materials were collected from a few locations in New York City and five locations in Los Angeles: Westwood, Woodland Hills, Beverly Hills and Sports Club OC. In total, 11,500 square feet of material, equating to about 165,000 pounds, was collected and processed locally within 50-75 miles of each club.

Equinox’s participation in this program also allowed it to comply with the updated L.A. County Construction and Demolition Recycle Reuse Ordinance that requires 70 percent of construction and demolition debris to be recycled.

Ross Gimbel, director of facilities at Equinox, said Ecore’s TRUcircularity program has been a significant advantage for Equinox in meeting the County Construction and Demolition ordinance.

Lisa Anderson, vice president of Ecore’s Construction Unit at SpectraTurf, emphasized the importance of this initiative. “By repurposing gym flooring into playground surfacing, we’re showing the possibilities of a sustainable future,” she said.  Anderson noted that the short turnaround time for the project – from tile removal to playground installation – was a major achievement.

SpectraTurf also helped streamline the process by assisting with the necessary paperwork to show compliance with recycling requirements.

Another key partner in the project, Landscape Structures Inc., a Minnesota-based manufacturer of environmentally sustainable playgrounds, played a crucial role in bringing the playgrounds to life.

“Partnering with SpectraTurf on the South Broadway Pocket Park project to install Spectra Pour recycled rubber surfacing illustrated the power of recycled materials,” Michael Bennett, president of Landscape Structures, said.

The success of the TRUcircularity project in Los Angeles has far-reaching implications, according to the company.  The project satisfied L.A. County’s environmental mandates and also demonstrated how businesses can work together to address global sustainability challenges. As the demand for circular solutions grows, Ecore aims to expand these projects to regions across the country.