The environmental benefits of composite decking

Composite decking is more sustainable than timber decking

The future of our planet is important to us, so we aim to make our composite products as environmentally friendly as possible. We believe that just because something's easy for you, doesn't mean it has to be bad for the planet.

Our composite products are made from recycled and reclaimed materials

A wood composite is a material that is made from a mixture of natural wood, which are normally fibres of recycled timber and wood products, that recycled man made materials such as recycled plastics are added. The result is a wood composite material that can be moulded or formed into almost any shape. This makes it a great alternative to 100% naturally sourced wood traditionally used in garden decking.

Decking made from wood composite has many benefits over traditional wood decking as it involves no painting, staining, sealing or sanding. This makes it a great low maintenance solution as it does not fade or splinter. It is also more slip resistant than natural timber and comes with our 25 year residential warranty.

The wood used in our composite decking boards is sourced from reclaimed or recycled wood that has been discarded during the industrial process or thrown away after domestic use.

This wood is processed to produce a fine wood flour that forms the wood component of the WPC decking boards.

We also use recycled plastics

The 'P' in WPC Decking stands for plastic - but not just any old plastic! We use reclaimed or recycled plastic that is processed into plastic beads to make the plastic easier to process further. This then makes it easier to process with the recycled wood flour, resulting in our raw wood plastic composite WPC.

How do we make raw WPC?

The wood flour and recycled plastic beads are combined with bonding and colouring agents which are then processed to form WPC.

The raw WPC is in a form that can be fed into extrusion, process and injection moulding machines that form preset items based upon their internal mould shape - like our decking, for example!

This manufacturing process allows us to build in subtle design features, even ones that natural wood doesn’t have.

Composite has huge advantages over natural wood

In composite decking boards, there are a number of tubular holes that run throughout the length of each board or plank. These tubular cavities aren’t there to save money. Even though they make the boards lighter and easier to work with, this isn’t their primary purpose. They’re in fact there to act as 'slow motion' shock absorbers to relieve the pressure that otherwise would build up in the wood element of the composite when it absorbs moisture over the course of a year. They also allow for this moisture to evaporate again in warmer weather, helping to prevent the boards from bulging or splitting (which is something that natural wood can be prone to).

As a society, we have used wood as a building material for tens of thousands of years, and as the global population increases, this need for wood is now threatening its source. If we want to maintain our global tree stock we need to find alternatives and composite wood is one such alternative.

Help to save our oceans with composite decking

As previously mentioned, the plastic used in composite decking boards is sourced from reclaimed or recycled plastic. It is widely documented how plastic is polluting our oceans and killing the wild-life within them through a lack of recycling - in fact, 80% of the plastic in our oceans originated on land. By choosing composite decking over traditional wooden decking for your project, you are helping to reduce global ocean plastic pollution, as it means that more plastic waste is collected before it enters the water.

Buy into sustainability

As the wood in composite decking is recycled wood fibre and the plastic coming from recycled man made materials, it is inherently more sustainable for use as decking than natural wood, as there is no need for trees to be cut down or additional plastic to be produced for the product.

Update: June 2022

We're excited to be partnered with Ecologi's tree-planting scheme to help with global reforestation. For every order we receive, Ecologi plants a tree. We've planted over 2,000 trees already. Read more.

If you’re looking to make a sustainable choice for your decking this year, then composite might just be the right option for you. Take a look at our full range of composite decking today or get in touch with our friendly team if you have any questions.