Recycled plastic trim trail – St Michael’s CE School, Exeter – April 2026

During the winter of 2025/26, the Rhino Play team was busy replacing the old wooden trim trail at St Michael’s CE School in Exeter. The project had been in the pipeline for a while, during which time the staff and parents had worked tirelessly to secure the funding needed to make the replacement happen.

The Challenge at St Michael’s

The original wooden trim trail items had been put out of use a long time before we arrived on site, having been affected by rot and wear. This meant the children had no trim trail or fitness equipment available to use outside. The school approached us at Rhino Play because they did not want to simply replace the trim trail with another wooden one. The feeling was that the lifespan of a timber trail would be too limited, and would not match the amount of hard work that had gone into fundraising for a new installation.

Why the school chose recycled plastic

• A sustainable, non rotting alternative to timber
• Resistant to rot, strimmer damage and splintering
• A prime, visible example for pupils of how recycling works in action
• A far longer lifespan than a like for like timber replacement
• A solution that reflected the fundraising effort behind the project

The Rhino Play Solution

Rhino Play were awarded the project to replace the old trail with our sustainable recycled plastic trim trail range. The material offers the look of timber without any of the drawbacks, and the children get the benefit of a trail that also teaches them about re using materials. You can see the full collection on our trim trails page, and read more about the material itself on our HDPE plastics page.

Scaling the Design Without Losing the Impact

Even though the original plans had to be scaled down, the finished result still gave the children a new trail that will last for a long time. Our design team worked carefully to prioritise the elements that would deliver the most play value for the available budget, so nothing essential was lost in the revised scheme.

Equipment Installed at St Michael’s

The final trail consisted of the following elements, linked together using rubber log posts to form one continuous, flowing circuit.

Trail elements

• Inclined Balance Beam at 3m long
• Twister at 3m long
• Inclined Balance Weaver at 3m long
• Wobble Steps Bridge at 2.4m long
• Rubber Log Posts x 5 linking the trail items

Project at a glance

• A 9 piece trail
• Around 14.5m long in total
• One continuous linked system
• Designed for primary age pupils
• Built from sustainable recycled plastic throughout

The Results

The new trail gives the children at St Michael’s a proper, challenging fitness circuit to use again after a long time without one. Because it is built from recycled plastic, the school can look forward to decades of use with minimal maintenance, no rot and no splintering. It also keeps the sustainability message front and centre for the pupils, which was an important goal for the team behind the fundraising.

Planning Your Own Trim Trail?

If your school has a tired timber trim trail that has been taken out of use, or if you are starting a fundraising push to install something brand new, we would love to help.