Folks, the industry has us a bit duped on wood mulch. Here are some thoughts seeing as we constantly get bombarded with the benefits / necessity of wood mulch:
I vaguely recall that there are good and bad ways to dump it in a landfill. You can bury it well, but the rot creates methane gas pockets just below the surface which escape into the atmosphere when dug up. When it’s rotting on the surface, it gradually leaks methane as it’s produced. Though I think it’s less rot when aired out. Mulch likely has ~½ the surface area against the soil and rotting there, so I would expect notable methane in that case.
Anyway, I’ve read nothing specific on it but conjecture that it should be studied. All that work capturing the carbon into tree wood only to cause the emission of a much worse GHG.
I vaguely recall that there are good and bad ways to dump it in a landfill. You can bury it well, but the rot creates methane gas pockets just below the surface which escape into the atmosphere when dug up. When it’s rotting on the surface, it gradually leaks methane as it’s produced. Though I think it’s less rot when aired out. Mulch likely has ~½ the surface area against the soil and rotting there, so I would expect notable methane in that case.
Anyway, I’ve read nothing specific on it but conjecture that it should be studied. All that work capturing the carbon into tree wood only to cause the emission of a much worse GHG.