In recognition of the growing public demand for environmentally sustainable products, the Mulch & Soil Council issues this statement on mulch:
The Mulch & Soil Council encourages and supports the continuing efforts of the Forest Products Industry to develop and enforce Best Management Practices (BMPs) for loggers and landowners that recognize and promote sustainable forest management. The Council pledges our continued efforts to assure optimum utilization of our natural resources through the recycling of forest by-products into mulch. The wise use of mulch improves the environment by conserving water, reducing herbicide use, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and returning organic matter to the earth from which it came.
The environmental sustainability of mulch, as with most forest products, begins overwhelmingly with the decisions of the landowner and logger. Consumer needs for housing, paper for books and other uses determines the why and how of every harvest, and these decisions control the environmental impact of the action. Mulch producers generally do not employ loggers or control landowners and are not part of the decision process regarding where or how timber is harvested.
What the mulch industry does provide is an environmentally friendly alternative to wasted forest resources by successfully recycling forest by-products into garden mulch that protects the environment, beautifies and improves our landscapes, promotes water conservation, reduces weeds without herbicides and reduces greenhouse gasses while returning organic materials to the earth.
Building neighborhoods and communities require forest harvests to provide lumber. Commerce and education need paper from trees. Timber harvesting is a necessary part of life, and forests will continue to be harvested as a renewable natural resource. Within the forest products industry, the garden mulch industry was created to optimize resource utilization and prevent or reduce waste. Environmentally unfriendly practices like open burning, dumping or abandonment of by-products and unmerchantable materials in the forests have been reduced by the processing of these materials into mulch. As a result, the mulch industry is one of the most environmentally sound recycling industries in the nation. According to a recent study of the U.S. Forest Service, only 6% of forest by-products are recycled as mulch. The majority of by-products continue to be used as a fuel source.1
Today, our efforts have expanded to include mulch recycled from uncontaminated consumer and industrial wood products. We are proud to maintain our role in promoting environmentally friendly recycled wood products. We support and promote all efforts to ensure sustainable forest practices are followed for the future of the forest products industry and for the betterment of our environment.
1Bentley, James W. 2003. The South’s timber industry—an assessment of timber product output and use, 1999. Resour. Bull. SRS–85. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 71 p
