Honest! It’s not wood!

We received an email from a disgruntled customer a couple of days ago:

Subject: Item I received is not as described

Dear Kedel Ltd,

Good morning. My rotating composter arrived yesterday and whilst I am delighted with the quality of the barrel, the stand is wooden, not recycled plastic as advertised, so that is disappointing. Will you be able to supply the plastic stand at a future date?

Sheila.

A Good Complaint

This complaint made us very happy. Why? Because the wood she was complaining about was not in fact wood at all but recycled British plastic. Synthetic wood to be precise made from waste polystyrene packaging such as that used to protect electrical appliances, insulated plastic cups for hot drinks, CD cases and plastic coat hangers. Obviously there is some processing involved and the material is the same density as some south american hard woods. But for every ton of recycled plastic wood produced we use 1.8 tons less oil than is needed to make virgin plastic and produce 250% less carbon dioxide. So the carbon footprint affecting global warming is massively reduced.

Not much plastic recycled

We only recycle about 7% of our plastic which means 93% is either thrown into landfill or incinerated. Polystyrene isn’t even recycled at all by local authorities as their recycling targets are fixed by weight not volumn, and polystyrene takes up a lot of space and flies all over the place.

The perfect replacement for Wood

The good news is that we can make this wonderful plastic wood of such realistic quality that customers think it really is wood. And ‘Why’, you may ask, use plastic wood instead of the real thing? The answer lies in the fact that you get all the advantages of plastic and still retain the aesthetic values and beauty of wood. And you can recycle the recycled plastic wood when you are done with it. Kedel’s recycled plastic wood really does look and feel like wood. You can treat it just the same. It can be sawn, glued, screwed just like wood. It can mimic the characteristics of any wood and be created in any colour. Obviously some colours are not stock items, but if you are using even ½ a ton we will make it to order. Oak, Mahogany and Black Walnut are standard.

Plastic wood by mail order

You can buy it right off our website at http://www.kedel.co.uk/ as well as the mixed plastic lumber. This is less like wood, but still serves the same purpose for construction and DIY. It’s made from a combination of recycled plastics such as milk bottle cartons. All this is diverted from landfill, which is a very expensive and silly place to put it.

Landfill full of plastic

30% of landfill is composed of waste plastic. When you consider the wide variety of uses for this plastic it seems thoughtless, and economically profligate, besides which it damages the environment.

Why bury your money?

Have you realised that you and I pay for this monstrous criminal waste in our taxes. Landfill is very expensive. If I am going to pay good money for something I would prefer to have a nice maintenance free garden bench or picnic table that will last a lifetime without painting, than pay to fill a hole in the ground with exactly the same material. It doesn’t make any sense to throw away a perfectly serviceable resource does it? And to pay for the priviledge is insane!

How long to decompose plastic?

Most plastics take many decades to decompose, and the figures I have seen for polystyrene are in the region of 450 years, and that was an estimate, as no one actually knows precisely how long it takes to breakdown fully.

The good news

This is bad news environmentally, but when you can convert it into a high quality recycled plastic wood to make a Garden Bench or Picnic Table, or use it as cladding or decking, that never rots, the bad news becomes very good news indeed.

No painting, no sanding down, no toxic preservatives, no unsightly cracked splitting wood and flaking paint, no maintenance at all apart from occassional wash down with soapy water.

Happy complaint

So this customer complaint brought smiles here, and as it makes such a good story, the customer said we could quote her, which is what got me started with this article.

Where to buy it?

You can buy recycled plastic lumber in oak, mahogany or black walnut and mixed plastic lumber in black or nut brown from http://www.kedel.co.uk/ or call 01282 861325, email sales@kedel.co.uk.

Recycled plastic products available

We also sell cladding, decking, raised beds, compost tumblers, garden benches and picnic tables, childrens outdoor furniture, storage benches, and planters. All trouble free and lasting a lifetime.