Granulated rubber mulch

At the recent Grand Designs show in London there was a company selling granulated recycled rubber for use as a mulch.

Sounds odd, I know, but it neither looked nor smelled like old tyres, and it was an appropriate very dark brown, almost black, colour, not kid's playground coloured stuff. In fact it looked quite nice, but what really appealed to me about it was the claim that unlike bark chippings, cats hate digging in it.

Does anybody here have experience of it? It wasn't cheap, so I'm reluctant to buy several bags of the stuff it it has some terrible drawback, or if it turns out that cats like it just fine. I'd be using it on top of a membrane, so it wouldn't migrate into the soil.

 

I've not used this stuff but I have to say that it doesn't appeal for the following reasons:

I prefer organic mulches that will break down over time and improve the structure of the soil.

I also seem to remember that rubber is processed with some powerful chemicals and these might leach into the soil (I think this came up when someone challenged Bob Flowerdew's practice of growing veg in old car tyres).

I'd be suspicious of buying a particular mulch mainly on the grounds that cats didn't like it. Cats can be such contrary animals that I'd be surprised if at least some of your local moggies didn't love it to bits. Just to be awkward!