Splinter Free Living

Wooden decks and railings are hard to maintain, not to mention being splinter territory. What’s more, they’re not usually environmentally sustainable due to their use of premium forest products.   For this reason alone Recycled composite decking is by far the best and coolest alternative to wood.   This stuff looks like wood but feels like heaven.  Manufactured from old plastic bottles makes it durable and resilient.

Many manufacturers use a dense mixture of reclaimed plastic and wood fibers.  One of the big companies in the industry, Trex, estimates that it prevents over 300,000 tons of plastic each year from ending up in the landfill.  Billions of plastic bags from grocery stores are transformed into decking material instead of littering our streets and parks.  Some companies, like Trex, take sustainability to the next level by operating their facilities with renewable energy and fueling their trucking fleets with biodiesel.  Recycled Composite Decking is made of all sorts scrap wood and plastic, from sawdust to polyethylene (styrofoam) to  milk cartons.   In addition to decking, municipalities and businesses have discovered the benefits of using recycled composite material for park benches and picnic tables.  Composites have certainly made their mark on college campuses across the country, as schools are embarking on reducing their environmental footprints.

This material has a long life span, and won’t warp, rot, or crack.  The days of restaining, refinishing, and seasounal repairs are gone.  If you want a deck that is resistent to the elements yet promotes the integrity of the planet, then recycled composite is probably right for you.

This article was first published on Build and Rebuild. To continue reading, please view the original post at Recycled Composite Decking.

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