Seasonal Sunday: Is Rubber Tire Mulch Right for You?

I first saw rubber tire mulch many years ago when I took my kids to a new park.  I didn't concern myself with such trivialities as environmental health at that time in my life but even then I thought the idea of reusing old tires as playground mulch was pretty nifty.  Now that I am older and wiser, the idea of rubber mulch for landscaping has piqued my interest. 

I'm hoping to redo the landscaping around our home within the next five years and rubber mulch is something I've been considering.  The idea of rubber mulch sounds great when taken at face value.  It is a means of recycling an otherwise worthless product and more importantly, it replaces the need for wood mulch or landscaping rocks that need to be hauled in and placed. 

What's wrong with wood mulch and landscaping rocks?  Plenty.  We are using up forests at warp speed for anything and everything so I feel it's important to cut out extra uses for trees wherever possible.  Rocks present another problem that most people don't fathom.  Where do the rocks come from?  Have you ever considered that?  They are not a material that is produced and sold to you.  Rocks come from somewhere and I'll shine a light on that in the next Seasonal Sunday post.

Let's start with the cons of rubber tire mulch.  Rubber tire mulch typically costs more than rocks or wood mulch.  I'm not sure what the reason is for the price being higher, it's not like used tires are a scarce commodity, in fact, Americans scrap over 290 million tires per year.  Rubber tire mulch can release VOCs and can leach into the surrounding soil.  When tires leach, they release heavy metals and other chemicals into the ground.  This rubber leachate is toxic to algae, snails, fish, and plankton.  This is something that can be quite harmful if you place the rubber tire mulch near marine environments.  Shredded tires present a flammability issue.  It's possible for wood mulch to catch fire as well but the difference with tires is that it burns hotter and faster than wood and is more difficult to extinguish.  Consumer Reports did some testing and both wood and rubber are unlikely to catch fire when a lit cigarette is in contact but the tires have a higher chance of starting on fire if a lit match is dropped on it.

Now we'll finish with the pros of rubber tire mulch.  Rubber and rocks shouldn't ever need to be replaced but wood mulch requires additional material to be added each season or every other season since it breaks down quickly.  Most rubber mulch is guaranteed for ten years or more and may actually never need to be replaced or added to.  Rubber mulch tends to require much less maintenance than its wood alternative and offers fewer weeds and fewer pests because it doesn't break down and pests don't feed on rubber.  Rubber tire mulch replaces the need for wood chips and rocks which is good for the environment.  

There you have it.  Is rubber tire mulch right for you?  There are a lot of considerations to be made and it is a personal choice.  Next week I'll talk about where landscaping rocks come from and why it matters.