Replacing Partially Composted Mulch and Topsoil

[roadrunner]

I'm always picking up others yard waste that is put out on the curb for city pick-up. I've noticed that some people seem to tear up their old wood chip mulching and with that comes a good amount of their soil. I usually see this in nicely manicured lawns and I understand they want to make their garden plot look nice and colorful, but why don't they just throw a bag of fresh woodchips over the old?

I don't understand why people do this, it's as if they think just because mulch is old it has no further use.

I was talking to one guy about this and his thoughts were that the soil and mulch had been there so long, they needed replacement.

Where does this mindset come from?

By doing this he's removing a lot of well established soil organisms. Soil and composted mulch doesn't need replacement.

Am I missing something?

 

[Chuck]

Yes, you are. You are missing talking to intelligent people.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Are these also the people putting dyed mulch down?

@Chuck is right - nothing going on between the ears.

You may want to be careful picking up mulch and yard waste now. Persistent herbicides will kill your garden if moved and placed on your plants and the dyed mulch is dyed to hide several things that make it into the scrap pile. There are several accounts of old decks, pallets, and playsets being chipped and dyed to be sold as colored mulch.