Mulch & Soil Council

MSC’s Uniform Voluntary Product Guidelines for Horticultural Mulches, Growing Media and Landscape Soils (UVPG) are the official industry standards for mulch and soil products across the country. The guidelines were created by a broad-based industry committee focused on promoting:

1. Uniform terminology and labeling that enables industry, consumers, buyers, and regulators to achieve a common understanding of mulch and soil products and product ingredients,
2. Fair and open competition in the mulch and soil industry, and
3. Standards for product performance that enable individuals to understand and choose the best product for their application.

Following committee development, the guidelines were submitted to the MSC membership for comments and suggestions. After membership review, the revised guidelines were made available to green industry organizations and any other interested parties wanting to review and comment. All membership and public comments were again reviewed by the MSC Standards Committee for final drafting of the uniform report.

The Uniform Voluntary Product Guidelines for Horticultural Mulches, Growing Media and Landscape Soils (UVPG) was officially adopted by a vote of the Mulch & Soil Council membership in October 2003 as a voluntary industry standard.

In 2005, product compliance with the UVPG became the mandatory for all products qualifying under the Mulch & Soil Council Product Certification Program. For more information on the MSC Product Certification Program, [CLICK HERE]

All-Natural Product Standards

Since 2003, the gardening public has expressed an increasing interest in using mulch and soil products made from all-natural ingredients. While many MSC certified products are natural, the VUPG was not specifically limited to that in 2003; so in 2023, Council committees set out to define industry standards for all-natural horticultural mulches and soil products.

The objective was to define the next-level standard that would allow only natural components with no chemical, synthetic, artificial or non-organic materials. In 2024, a draft guideline for all-natural mulches was approved by the committee and MSC Board of Directors. The guideline was then submitted to the Council membership, industry stakeholders and state regulatory officials for comments. Those comments were submitted to the committee for revisions and Board approval.

In March 2025, the MSC membership officially adopted the Guidelines for Certified All-Natural Horticultural Mulches (CANM). The MSC Certification Committee then developed and adopted a higher-level testing protocol to meet the new standard for reviewing, approving and auditing certified all-natural mulch products.

A new “Certified All-Natural” Trademark logo is now available for all products that can qualify under the existing UVPG and the new CANM standards.

New guidelines for soil products are the next step in the Council’s ongoing efforts to help consumers identify all-natural products.