Many mulch producers today derive their supply and source of material from
recycling wood products. These products can include brush, logs, and stumps to
name a few that come to mind first. What you may not know is a lot of the remaining
wood product is possibly composed of construction waste and debris. Left over
scrap wood from new construction and also torn down lumber from old buildings in
a remodeling process, this raises the biggest warning flag of all.
Lumber used for building construction was formerly pressure treated with CCA or
Chromated Copper Arsenate up until about 2002 before it was largely banned in the
US. This fairly recent ban still leaves it very possible CCA treated lumber could show
up in your mulch if your producer accepts construction debris in their recycling
process. Mulch produced with CCA treated lumber can raise the arsenic levels of the
soils around your home.
Schreiber Recycling does not accept or use any construction debris in their recycling
practices there for eliminating any possibility of any CCA treated material showing
up in any products. So the next time you consider buying that beautiful dyed mulch
from your local mulch producer ask them what their source is and see what you are
really buying underneath the dye.