You can tell a good playground by its sound. Kids running, climbing, shouting and trying again. What you can’t hear or see is what all that play rests on: the surface. That is where decisions get made that stay in play for years.
Room to explore
Play is how children learn about the world. They test their balance, judge distances, fall down and get back up. The best playgrounds make room for that: a grassy mound to roll down, a swing you want to push just a little higher, a schoolyard where the whole class can play at once.
Anyone who designs, manages or builds a place like that chooses equipment, use zones and fall heights with care. But the foundation of every playground is under the children’s feet.
What lies beneath the surface
Playground surfacing shapes how a play area feels, how stormwater drains away and how the space holds up after years of heavy use. Under play equipment, together with the layer below it, it determines how a fall is absorbed.
So a good choice goes beyond color and appearance. What materials is the surface made of? How is it built up? And has that been independently tested? These are questions every owner has a right to ask, and every supplier should be able to answer.
A reminder from Spain
In October 2026, rubber playground surfacing drew wide media attention in Spain. Much of the coverage cited research by the Spanish research institute IDAEA-CSIC (2023), which analyzed the composition of recycled tire crumb and EPDM rubber (a synthetic rubber). The study looked at which substances the material contains, not whether they are released or what that means for health. The lesson the researchers themselves drew goes beyond any single material: anyone choosing a surface should be able to know what it is made of.
The ONE-DNA™ approach
That is exactly where ONE-DNA™ begins. We design synthetic turf around one question: how few materials does it need? The result is a clear, deliberate construction.
- Carefully selected materials. Every layer has a job, and we keep the number of material types to a minimum.
- No latex or PU coating. Our turf is made without a latex or polyurethane coating on the backing.
- Independently tested. During product development, independent laboratories examine our materials, including migration of elements, PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), substances of very high concern under the EU chemicals regulation REACH, and leaching.
- Designed for recycling. A simple composition removes one of the main barriers to reuse. Whether material is actually recycled after use depends on local collection and processing.
What we test, we share. That way a specifier or buyer can judge for themselves what a result means and which product it applies to.
ONE-DNA™ Play 24: made for play
ONE-DNA™ Play 24 is our synthetic turf for playgrounds, schoolyards and public play spaces. With a pile height of roughly 1 in. (24 mm), it gives a play area a green, well-kept look and is suitable as the surface for professionally designed play environments.
Play 24 is made without a latex or PU coating and is developed to form a complete play surface together with sand infill and a suitable shock pad.
From product to playground
A safe playground is always the result of the complete system. Under equipment with a fall height, the combination of turf, sand and shock pad absorbs the impact of a fall. In the US, impact attenuation of playground surfacing is assessed under ASTM F1292, which determines the critical fall height of a surfacing system so it can be matched to the fall height of the equipment. ONE-DNA™’s documented impact testing to date was carried out to the European standard EN 1177, which tests the complete surfacing system as a whole. Ask us which results apply to your project. Accessibility is assessed separately under ASTM F1951. A level, free-draining base, skilled installation and regular maintenance and inspection complete the picture. That is why we work with professional partners who install the system as specified.
Room to play freely
The best playgrounds feel effortless to children. They run, climb, fall and get back up without a second thought. For the professionals who make such places possible, that ease starts with a surface whose makeup and construction are known. That is what ONE-DNA™ is here to contribute.
Explore ONE-DNA™ for playgrounds, take a closer look at ONE-DNA™ Play 24 or request product documentation for your project on our For professionals page.
Backed by independent testing
In 2022, the testing laboratory SGS tested earlier constructions of our play turf: an all-PE (polyethylene) version and a version with PE fibers on a PP (polypropylene) backing.
- Migration of 19 elements (EN 71-3, the European toy-safety standard): all values below the detection limit.
- PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons): below 0.2 mg/kg.
- Substances of very high concern (SVHCs) on the EU REACH Candidate List (as of 2022): none detected above 0.1%.
- Leaching of 19 metals and salts (NEN 7375, the Dutch leaching test, 64 days): only molybdenum and sulfate found, far below the limits.
These results apply to the constructions tested and are not a certification of the current Play 24. Reports: SGS A133330/R20220658, A135310/R20220679a and A136230/BU20221594a. Impact attenuation to EN 1177 is tested for each surfacing system; see the product page.
