Summary
Wood as a decking material has several environmental benefits over alternatives:
- It is sustainable: trees naturally grow from the power of the sun while providing habitat for wildlife. During their lifetime, they consume carbon dioxide, clean the air and release oxygen.
- It is renewable; even after trees are harvested to be milled into wood decking, more are grown in their place. Oil resources used in composite decking are finite and are becoming harder to extract.
- It is recyclable: wood decking can be refinished or even turned into other home projects after its original use.
- It is local: because wood is grown and milled all over the United States, it may even come from a forest right down the road from you, thus reducing its transportation carbon footprint.