What is rubber mulch?

What rubber mulch is

Rubber mulch is a ground cover made from tires that have finished their life on the road. A plant shreds those tires into small pieces and screens them to a steady size. The pieces go down the way bark mulch goes down, over a bed or under a swing set.

The rubber itself is inert. It has no odor. It does not rot, so it does not thin out into the soil over a season and leave you buying the same bed twice.

Under play equipment it does a second job. Loose rubber gives way when a child lands on it, then springs back. That cushion is measured in a laboratory test, and the depth you spread is what makes the test result real in your yard.

“Loose-Fill Surfacing Material — A material used for protective surfacing in the use zone that consists of loose particles such as sand, gravel, engineered wood fibers, or shredded rubber.”

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Public Playground Safety Handbook (Publication 325)

How rubber mulch is made

The process runs in a set order. Here is each step, described as it happens.

Collection and sorting

Used tires come in from repair shops and scrap yards. Crews sort them by type before anything is cut.

Shredding

Shredders cut whole tires down into pieces. The pieces pass over screens that sort them by size.

Steel removal

A tire is built around steel belts and beads. The line runs the shredded rubber past magnets, and the magnets draw that steel out of the stream as it passes.

Fabric removal

A tire also carries fabric cord. Air classification lifts that fabric out, because fabric is far lighter than rubber. A moving air stream carries the light material up and away while the rubber drops through.

Coloring

Five of the six colors are painted. Unpainted is the rubber as it comes off the line, with no color added.

Packing

The finished mulch goes into bags or into one large super sack. Either way the pallet holds 75 cubic feet.

What comes on a pallet

Every pallet holds 75 cubic feet. You pick the packaging at checkout.

• Bags: 50 bags of 1.5 cubic feet each, stacked and wrapped on the pallet.
• Super sack: one large sack holding the same pallet load.
• Same price: the packaging you choose does not change what you pay.

Bags suit a job where people carry the mulch by hand. A super sack comes off in one piece. Plan on a loading dock, or a forklift and a pallet jack.

How far a pallet goes

A pallet holds 75 cubic feet either way it is packed. Fifty bags of 1.5 cubic feet each add up to it, and one super sack is the same 75.

Depth decides the rest. At three inches deep, 75 cubic feet covers 300 square feet of bed. At four inches, the same pallet covers 225 square feet. Deeper means less ground per pallet, and the math is that plain.

Our coverage guide for rubber mulch has a depth table and worked examples.

The six colors

We sell Black, Brown, Red, Green, Blue, and Unpainted.

Every color is the same rubber and performs the same way. None of them is built for a particular climate or a particular use. Choose the one you want to see in the yard, and the choice ends there.

How rubber mulch behaves on the ground

Four things describe how it acts once you spread it.

• It is inert: the material sits there and does not break down into the soil.
• It has no odor: a fresh bed smells like nothing at all.
• It springs back: foot traffic does not pack it down the way it packs down wood chips.
• It migrates: busy spots push it aside, so those spots get raked back and topped up.

Migration is worth planning for. Under a swing, at a gate, along the line children run, the mulch moves outward over time. Raking it back takes minutes, and a bag or two fills the thin spots.

Everywhere else it stays where you put it. A bed you fill this spring is the same depth next spring, because nothing has rotted away underneath.

Where people use it

Play areas

This is the demanding use. The surface has to cushion a fall from the highest point a child can reach, and depth is what delivers that. Our playground surfacing guide covers use zones and planning.

Landscape beds

In a bed, rubber mulch is a finish layer. It covers soil, frames plantings, and stays put through the season. Our landscape project guide shows how people lay it out.

Paths and pet runs

A path or a dog run takes traffic in one narrow line. Rubber mulch handles that, and the spots that thin out get topped up.

Rubber mulch and wood mulch

The two materials behave differently over a year, and one difference surprises people.

Our rubber mulch and wood mulch comparison sets the two side by side on cost, upkeep, and looks.

What health agencies have published

Recycled tire rubber has been studied by federal and state agencies, and the reports are public.

The Environmental Protection Agency ran a joint study with CDC, ATSDR, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. It tested what the material contains and measured how people come into contact with it. California published a final report on synthetic turf. Washington State investigated a reported cancer cluster among soccer players and compared it against state cancer rates.

We link all three so you can read them in full. Most of that work looked at the fine rubber used in artificial turf, where contact is heaviest of all.

“Part 1 and Part 2 reports underwent a letter external peer review by independent experts.”

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Tire Crumb Exposure Characterization Report, with CDC/ATSDR and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Where our rubber mulch is made

Ours is made in Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.

Orders to the rest of the 48 contiguous states are delivered from the plant that serves the area. That keeps the freight leg short, and freight is already inside the price you see.

What to check before you order

Three things are worth confirming on any rubber mulch order, ours included.

• The test standard: ask which impact standard the product is tested to.
• The certification: certifications are listed in a public database, so look the product up.
• The delivered price: ask whether freight to your own address sits inside the number you were quoted.

How to buy rubber mulch

Order 1 to 7 pallets online at your delivered price. A quote is available at any size. For 8 pallets or more, ask us for a project quote.

Delivery is curbside anywhere in the 48 contiguous states. We deliver the mulch, and

Work out your quantity first with our rubber mulch coverage guide. Then get your delivered price.