GroundScape Recycled Tire Mulch
by TreeHugger 
on 04.11.05
GroundScape turns car tires into color-fast mulch that actually looks a bit like bark mulch. We’re not quite sure what to make of it. It’s great to find a way to recycle tires (without turning them into hillbilly flowerpots), but the decay of natural mulch is beneficial to plants—this ground cover is designed specifically not to decay. Of course, wood mulch made from unsustainably grown trees isn’t high on our list, and we’d rather use a recycled product—if only it didn’t promise to stick around for at least 50 years. We’re more intrigued with the idea of using it as a children’s play surface, where splinter-prone wood mulch or hard gravel are both pretty bad ideas. Via Atomic Ranch ::GroundScape [by KK]
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Tire rubber being a bit more dense than wood, it tends not to float away as much as wood chips in a downpour. Ozone and sunlight will degrade the rubber eventually, given the large surface area, liberating a fair amount of zinc and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Dust particles are produced as well (ever wonder where all the "worn off" part of a tire ends up?) Hence, I'd at least think a bit about the hand-to-mouth tendency of children and ask some major tire manufacturers what they think about this exposure. Just to be sure.
I've been using a similar product here in New England from RubberTree Mulch. This mulch looks just like the real thing. The rubber mulch has a colored coating that keeps it from dusting and rubbing off on the kids. The coating is non-toxic. The kids play in it all the time and I've never noticed any colorant or rubber on them. I think it's amazing, it's so soft and stays really clean. The kids can play even right after it rains.