Garden Recycling Ideas for Walkway Paths

The world is increasingly becoming energy and waste conscious. Even garden pathways are being created from recycled materials, and that's a good thing. These meandering garden features may be made from weathered brick, crushed glass or old tires. Even a recycled tree can enhance your garden space.

Whenever someone dismantles an old fireplace or a brick wall, that used brick has to go somewhere. It may end up for sale on an online site or in a local recycling warehouse. Old brick, particularly if it's worn and weathered, may be used to make rustic-style garden pathways. New bricks work best for formal walkways, like those created using the precisely-angled herringbone pattern. The worn bricks, with their chips and dimples, work better on a curved path, perhaps laid out in rows with the edges just a bit offset.

Rubber mulch is made from recycled tires and then dyed to produce various colors. It is long lasting, as well as insect, weed and mold resistant. That means no termites can use your wood-mulch pathway to reach your home. Rubber mulch is also heavier than wood mulch and is less likely to float or blow away in a storm. If used around plants, it doesn't wick away available moisture, but allows it to seep down into the ground to reach the plant roots. A rubber mulch garden pathway requires little care. Depending on the layout and design, you may not need edging material.

Rubber mulch is odorless, except for the first few days after application, where it gives off the scent of old tires. When the mulch leaves the factory, it's usually covered with manufacturing powder. Giving your pathway a good spray with the garden hose after installation will help reduce the eau de tires and wash away the dust.

Old bottles and other glass recyclables are often broken up into bits, tumbled to remove sharp edges and turned into landscape glass. If you want to make a statement with your garden path, consider using tumbled landscape glass. Available in a variety of colors, the bits and pieces have just enough grip to keep them from shifting too much. Edging does help keep the material in place, while adding a finished look to your path. Larger, tumbled beach stones with a matte finish work well as an edging, as do recycled bricks. Weed cloth is used as a liner to keep unwanted plants at bay. Tumbled glass is also used as a border for stepping stones and to accent rock gardens.

Tumbled glass does shift a bit, but not usually as much as gravel. This type of pathway may be difficult to navigate in a wheelchair or when using other walking aids.

A fallen tree doesn't have to go to waste. Instead, it can be turned into a nature-friendly garden path. The trunk is cut into slices, effectively creating wooden pavers. The slices are laid flat along the pathway. If you use cedar, you may leave the wood natural and not have to worry about wood rot. Other woods may be sealed. Leave the spaces between the wood slices alone for a more natural look and to facilitate drainage. Larger wood slabs also make excellent stepping stone paths across a lawn or to provide easier access to the further reaches of your vegetable garden.

Pallets are another type of recycled wood that is used for garden pathways. These shipping aids are often given away or sold for a nominal fee. Since the pallets must be dismantled, they don't have to be perfect. Then it's a matter of tearing them apart to access the boards and giving them a good cleaning, if needed. Decide where you want your path, flatten and compact the earth and then lay the boards side by side, embedding them slightly into the soil. Coating them with a sealer before installation will make them last longer. Since wood can be slippery when wet, adding sand to the sealer can give the boards a bit of grip.

Plastic lumber looks much like real wood but it doesn't rot, isn't subject to insect infestation and is low maintenance. It's used for building decks, boardwalks and patio buildings and even as a construction material on eco-friendly buildings. Plastic lumber is also a great material for building garden pathways. Individual pieces can be laid side by side, just like the pallet boards. Most recycled plastic lumber comes in gray, which does provide a nice contrast to the riot of colors in flower beds. Colored boards are sometimes available, but they are usually more expensive. Best of all, if you decide to renovate your backyard landscaping, you can re-recycle the boards.

For more information on budgetwise garden paths, see Cheap Walkway Ideas.