One note about 'artificial mulch' just in case you need this at your meeting. This concerns 'rubber mulch'.
I witnessed an incident at an apartment complex that had used rubber mulch. Sure it looked very nice. Smelled yucky up close. But a fire started near the building that housed the washing machines and dryers. The rubber mulch caught fire very quickly. If this had been mulch made of wood or pine straw we could have easily controlled the fire as it was very near the swimming pool - lots of water available. The fire department arrived in a timely manner, but the solid black cloud of stinky, sooty smoke of the rubber tire mulch burning left a lasting impression...and a lasting odor.
