Composite Decking *is* Recyclable

Greg Burnet's "What Makes a Deck Board Green" article points out that until we develop a 'USDA Organic' equivalent for sustainability, green-ness is subjective. However, as a manufacturer of wood-composite decking and railing, a value-added forest product, I feel obligated to address a couple of points that Mr. Burnet makes. Burnet argues that PVC can be recycled, while wood composites cannot. This just isn't true. Both wood-composites and PVC can be and are recycled. I believe the perception that wood-composites aren't recyclable may be based on confusion with fiberglass composites (such as are used for boat hulls). Or, said perception could be based on a 2005 report from the Healthy Building Network that asserted that the blend of ingredients in a wood-composite deckboard, since they can't be unmixed, can't be recycled (no doubt the summer intern that authored this poorly researched yet widely cited report is wearing a paper hat and listening for the beep of the friolator as we speak). In the meantime, we and others have recycled millions and millions of pounds of wood composite articles into tool trays, shutters, lobster trap runners, rot-resistant shims and many other everyday items. Wood-composites can be and are recycled. They represent an excellent environmental choice. Moreover, coextruded products such as CorrectDeck CX especially encourage the use of recycled feedstock, because color risk is eliminated. In 2008, our factory used more than 2 million pounds of recycled #5 polypropylene and many more millions of pounds of recycled hardwood fiber (which comes from the manufacture of golf tees and ice cream sticks). In order to facilitate cradle-to-cradle reuse and recycling, we mark all of our products with their resource content , and we have pioneered a collection program for composite decking jobsite scraps - which of course are recyclable, dammit!Wood -composites, especially those in the ultra-low maintenance category, can compete against the best wood and plastic products in performance, aesthetics and sustainability.