Waste Pioneer: Yoni Kallai and play:groundNYC
play:groundNYC makes an adventure out of New York’s junk.
About ten years ago, Yoni Kallai came across a story about a playground made of junk. From the sound of it, it was indeed just a junkyard: piles of dirt, old tires, wooden planks, hammers and nails, and other old, leftover, discarded objects strewn about an open ground and left out for play. But it wasn’t a dumping ground—these items from the waste stream were selected for children’s play. It was an “adventure playground.”
Intrigued, Yoni learned that this “adventure playground” idea came about during WWII, when a Danish landscape architect named Carl Theodor Sorensen noticed that kids were playing more in the ruins and rubble of bombed out buildings and construction sites, instead of actual, built playgrounds. Sorensen, and a “playworker” named John Berteslen, closed off an empty lot and filled it with building materials, discarded objects, and tools, and opened it up for kids to build, dig, and invent on their own. They called it a Junk Playground.
“On the day it opened,” says Yoni, “[Sorensen and Berteslen] weren’t sure if anyone would come. As it turned out, 900 kids showed up.”
Yoni recommends that interested readers also watch this video by Vox about the history and concept of adventure playgrounds. It’s fascinating!
Yoni knew the City had a surplus of excess materials that were otherwise going to landfill. Could these discards be redirected for use in an adventure playground, he wondered? Could New York’s piles of leftovers become a world of creative possibility? He started a series of pop pop-up events where kids could play with cardboard, leftover fabric, string, tape, etc. in a park. Attendees loved being given free reign to play with old things and random discards in unstructured. Yoni then joined Eve Mosher and Alex Khost at play:groundNYC, home to New York’s own (and only) adventure playground, The Yard.
Transforming childhood development through playing with New York’s leftovers
To build The Yard, Yoni and play:ground NYC’s founders first started collecting materials off the street (of which, of course, there was an abundance). Once, Yoni found a whole playhouse left out on the curb. Another time, he was driving around the city looking for big cardboard boxes, and happened upon a housing complex that “must have unloaded a bunch of refrigerators and things” such that there were a lot of big boxes left out on the curb. Yoni took as many as he could and piled them on top of his van. He also got a lot of fun old props from his wife’s circus business.
A pile of junk can become a fortress of creative play. The possibilities of various materials are endless, and the play:groundNYC team loves seeing what kids come up with.
Yoni wondered, could these discards be redirected for use in an adventure playground—could New York’s piles of leftovers become a world of creative possibility?
Today, play:ground NYC receives its leftover materials from New York’s network of reuse partners. He works closely with DSNY partners like Materials for the Arts, and the Big Reuse, as well as Remix Market. The Yard also gets donations from families and fans: “One family, a number of times, they’ll go through a yard sale and buy things for $1-2 and bring us a hammer, or saw, or something like that,” Yoni says with gratitude.
It’s completely sustainable sourcing—nothing new is needed, and old things and materials (wood, metal, rubber, fiberglass, rope, fabric, cardboard, etc.) are given a second life.
Yoni notes that the use of junk as a play-thing or a toy—specifically meant for fun, not for trash—actually makes discards precious again. This reuse is a way to elevate waste, and make people, especially young people, realize that not everything that gets thrown away should be wasted. There’s always a possibility for salvage and second life, and creativity and play. In trash, there is treasure.
Go Ahead: Trash It
Check out this informative video featuring Yoni about all aspects of play:groundNYC’s Yard.
Yoni and The Yard are passionate about sustainability, but their main mantra is also the importance of play. While play is defined as “activity engaged in for enjoyment and recreation rather than for any serious or practical purpose,” Yoni says that the use of junk is particularly fostering of true, uninhibited play, because it allows visitors of The Yard to do as they please.
“The use of junk in this setting [is important] because maybe all humans—but I'll say kids—love to play with things, try things, figure things out,” he says. “People can use anything in The Yard without feeling like they're going to break it, because it's already trash. When it's junk, the adults tend to not feel so precious about it. So if things break, it's okay. And if [kids] modify it in a way, it's okay because it's just junk; it was about to go in the trash anyway. So it's getting a second life. And it gives a lot of room for creativity and exploration.”
Yoni also believes that getting inspiration from old, unwanted things, and in reusing things in new ways requires a heightened creativity. There are no new art supplies with obvious use, only leftover stuff that might at first seem purpose-less.
“Kids are exposed to things in a different way than they're used to, it gets them to see and think about things differently,” says Yoni. “It’s just amazing to see how the kids use everything, and what they come up with.”
Leftover wood, cartons, ropes, chains, and more make for an imaginative play space for The Yard’s young visitors.
It’s completely sustainable sourcing—nothing new is needed, and old things are given a second life.
The Reward of Risk
Adventure playgrounds can involve heights, rough and tumble play, a lot of running around sharp objects and tools, loose parts, and other potential dangers—especially if kids build their own forts out of old wood, etc. If that sounds risky, Yoni counters that it’s controlled risk, which he says is important to development: being given some freedom and autonomy helps kids develop better risk detection, creativity, and self esteem. They’re allowed to discover things on their own and make their own choices.
“So much of kids’ time right now is [otherwise] being heavily monitored and told, ‘Don't do this,’ ‘Don't do that,’” laments Yoni. “Risk is a part of life. Therefore, learning how to assess and manage risk is an important thing for kids to try and figure out. As playworkers, our role is to allow for an acceptable level of risk to be available for the kids to engage with. But we differentiate risk from hazard. Risk is something that you can see, sense, decide whether you interact with and to what extent, whereas a hazard is something that you're not expecting, that will harm you.”
Yoni says he and his team carefully select the items that make it into their playground. It’s true that sometimes leftover materials can be dangerous—like sharp staples in old cardboard boxes. But all staples get removed from any cardboard that makes it into The Yard. (Sanitation Foundation would like to emphasize, on the note of risky trash, the importance of being careful about how you throw away hazardous materials, since doing so haphazardly or without proper care can really hurt Sanitation Workers. We’ve also written a blog post about this topic.)
Happy in junk.
The Junkyard Dream
With another play:ground NYC summer camp in full swing, Yoni’s dream is to see the emergence of a lot more of such playgrounds in New York and beyond. Just this past month, play:groundNYC has officially launched its intent to open a second location. The team is currently looking for the perfect site in the city, one which complements The Yard while being more accessible and closer to homes and schools. The second location will offer year-round programming with local schools and community groups. If you’ve got an idea for a spot, let them know!
Yoni would also like to partner with DSNY to help collect more reusable, junkyard-appropriate materials. He still watches the streets for reusable materials carefully, and collects things for The Yard all the time. (Much to his wife’s dismay, as it can mean clutter at home!)
“It's so amazing how much stuff gets put to reuse via Materials for the Arts, but there's so much more that is being tossed out for no reason. These could also be collected and given to people who can't afford them, or sold at a lower price.”
He also hopes The Yard inspires visitors to waste less and encourage their networks to creatively salvage more items. Maybe especially in schools, where he suggests that parents and kids can talk with custodians about reusing materials for playtime or art.
“Tell them that they don't have to throw certain things out,” he says. “Old things help enliven their normal playground—which is otherwise always kind of the same thing. Whereas, when you have these new [old] materials, it adds so much excitement and fun for the kids. That difference and exploration is really important.”
Learn more about The Yard at play:groundNYC’s website. Follow their Instagram for more footage of waste and junk becoming a haven of play!