Wood chips

Pine wood chips work well as a mulching material, but be careful about which plants you spread them around. Pine contains a high acidity level. Acid-loving plants like azaleas, blueberry bushes and tomatoes thrive when mulched with pine wood chips. If you’d like to mulch flowerbeds with sensitive plants in them, let the pine chips age while exposed to rainfall and sunlight to lower their natural acidity levels.

Waste wood chips burn to create heat, although they are not as efficient as kiln dried pellets or solid wood. An outdoor wood-burning furnace handles even green pine wood chips and produces enough heat for a home if you have a steady source of chips, says Vermont Heat Research. Pine creates a buildup of creosote when burnt, so the furnace and vent pipes will need to be cleaned monthly to prevent out-of-control fires. Pine wood chips shouldn’t be burned in an indoor wood heater due to the increased fire risk.

Pine wood chips decompose slowly enough to be used as a soft walkway material, according to “Southeast Home Landscaping” by Roger Holmes and Rita Buchanan. Eventually wear and weathering causes the wood to break down, but if you’ve got a source of free or inexpensive pine chips, adding fresh material every few years won’t be a problem. Pine chips will kill the grass below the walkway through high acidity, but brick or concrete pavers do the same by blocking sunlight.