(Rymar, 2016)
Rymar is a Canadian company that is nation wide which specializes in rubber flooring products, synthetic golf turf, synthetic grass and ice rink boards, as well as being a large producer of rubber mulch (1Rymar, 2016). They have 2 corporate head offices, located in Calgary, Alberta and Mississauga, Ontario and additional offices in Vancouver, BC and Ottawa, Ontario (1Rymar, 2016). The rubber mulch is composed of new or used tire rubber that has been ground into 3/8 inch to ¾ inch pieces in a large machine that resembles a wood chipper (2Rymar, 2016). Rymar’s rubber mulch is composed completely of used rubber auto and truck tires to try reduce the stockpiles of used tires in Canada (2Rymar, 2016). The tires are mulched using their own equipment at each location, which includes a large mulching machine equipped with powerful magnets and metal detectors to ensure the mulch is metal free (2Rymar, 2016). Having equipment located across Canada means that the raw material can be sourced from anywhere across the country. The mulch is also coated in a polyurethane coating that prevents the mulch pieces from adhering to each other, and prevents any chemical leaching from the rubber itself (2Rymar, 2016). This protective coating also makes the product animal-safe as it will not pass any harmful chemicals to the animals during contact (2Rymar, 2016) Tire Rubber is a durable material that will not splinter, compress or decompose like wood or other organic mulches (2Rymar, 2016). Rubber mulch is also more resistant to insect and mite infestation than organic mulches (2Rymar, 2016).
Other Canadian Suppliers
There are several companies in Canada that also sell rubber mulches. Heffco Elastomers Inc., based out of Simcoe, Ontario produces rubber mulch, but is not a large enough company to deal with the demands of an international market (Heffco group, n.d.). The majority of the companies that sell rubber mulch in Canada, produce the product in the United States of America. Crumb Rubber Manufacturers, a company with a location in Brantford, Ontario, has several other locations in the United States of America (CRM, n.d.), and would likely start international trade from the United States instead of Canada.