eFoam Helps a Local School
eFoam is proud to play an active role in the local community and endeavours to support local organisations, schools, charities and businesses where it can. So we were thrilled to be asked by the children of Arngask Primary School to support their DIY outdoor tyre seats project.
Arngask's headteacher, Yvonne, contacted us about the children's outdoor classroom and explained how the pupils were building comfortable seats from tyres and plywood to replace the hardwood benches in place. The seats would be cushioned with foam cut to size and covered with linoleum-style table covers for protection. The school had been donated all the tyres, plywood, paint and table covers, but were still trying to source the foam to complete the seats.
The pupils set out to create 25 seats, and when they contacted us they had managed to complete four. The children wrote us some great letters requesting foam 2 inches thick, cut to 60cm x 60cm, so they could cut out 60cm-diameter circles to pad the seats. They asked us to donate whatever foam sheets we could, but given the excellent quality of their letters, we decided to provide all the remaining foam they needed.
We were impressed by how well written the letters were, and how many of the children – many soon moving to secondary school – cared about the comfort and enjoyment of future pupils. One pupil wanted future students to enjoy the outdoor classroom in comfort rather than on cold, hard log benches, and another was so aware of manufacturing waste that they asked us to donate scrap foam rather than recycle it into the foam offcut products we usually sell.
eFoam is proud to ensure all offcuts avoid landfill, either recycled into new products and uses or, as here, donated to worthy causes. The pupils kindly sent us photographs of their seats, showing how easy it is to recycle everyday objects into innovative new products: for each seat, they sourced two car tyres and painted them before stacking them.
How the seats were made
To recreate these, the tyres can be fixed together with strong universal adhesive or an industrial nail gun. The teachers and pupils cut 60cm-diameter circles from plywood and the same from the 2-inch foam sheets we supplied, stuck these together, covered them with waterproof material for decoration and protection, and applied them to the tyre stacks to complete each seat.
- Source two car tyres, paint each in your chosen colour, and stack them, fixing with strong adhesive or a nail gun.
- Cut a 60cm-diameter circle from plywood and a matching 60cm circle from a 2-inch foam sheet.
- Stick the foam and plywood circles together, then cover with a waterproof material.
- Apply the cushioned top to the tyre stack to complete the seat.
We want to thank the pupils of Arngask for getting in touch – we were very happy to help with such an excellent project. Congratulations to all the pupils and teachers involved, from all of us at eFoam. For more upcycling ideas, see our guides to reusing old foam and DIY outdoor craft mats.
