Many homeowners have wowed their neighbors with gorgeous lawn transformations. Sadly, one Redditor wasn't so fortunate after the house next door mulched with a "toxic" material.
"My neighbors mulched their front yard with shredded tires," the Redditor shared in the subreddit r/MildlyInteresting, posting a photo of tire mulch covering a small area with no visible greenery.
The original poster didn't ask any questions to the community, but commenters had plenty of advice for the OP, warning them about the material's potentially harmful effects.
"It's the toxic stuff," one person said after an optimistic Redditor hoped that it was nontoxic. "Using that stuff on sports fields was a major blunder."
"I wouldn't want this s*** anywhere near my house," another wrote, highlighting that recycled tires are used in many types of synthetic turf.
Some homeowners, including in drought-prone areas, have installed artificial turf to reduce lawn maintenance, but experts have warned that the material isn't the solution it seems to be. For one, the turf still needs to be cleaned.
It also contains harmful "forever chemicals" linked to severe health issues. A 2016 study in the Netherlands found that rubber fields contained six times the amount of cancer-causing compounds than allowed in consumer products, while another investigation linked fake turf to brain cancer in six former Major League Baseball players with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Thankfully, affordable landscaping options that are better for our health and the planet exist — even for people who live in dry, hot climates. Xeriscaping, for example, involves selecting drought-tolerant native plants that can be introduced either all at once or in phases.
Because native species have adapted to their environments, they don't need fertilizers and require less water. They also attract pollinators, which are crucial to the reproduction of food crops. People who switch to natural lawns or rewilded yards generally save more than $200 every year on lawn care and have extra time for other activities.
"As far as I know, [shredded tire mulch] has no benefits for the environment," another commenter said. "Also why would anyone do this? [It's] just plain ugly."
"That is not the way to no lawn," someone else pointed out.
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