BUILD A DECK... WITHGROCERY BAGS

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Recycled plastic finds
new life as lumber.

Dear Mother,
The redwood timbers I used for my raised beds need to be replaced, and someone suggested that I use recycled plastic wood. But I've alsoheard that the plastic leaches chemicals into the ground, and since this is a vegetable garden, I want to be as safe as possible. Any advice?

Barbara W.

A handful of manufacturers nationw ide are busy turning heaps of our plastic waste into durable "lumber." Know those bins in supermarket entries where you stuff used plastic grocery sacks? More and more, the contents are being sold to plastic lumber companies for recycling, instead of going to a landfill to resist decomposition forever.

Some companies, like the Colorado-based Ecodeck and Phoenix Recycled Plastics of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, use 100% recycled plastics; others, including the Trex Company of Winchester, Virginia, mix reclaimed plastics with industrial waste hardwood fibers to produce artificial wood planking.

Intended mainly for outdoor use, plastic lumber is waterproof and inert and will never need replacing, unlike even the most thoroughly poison-impregnated (with copper and arsenic) conventional pressure-treated (PT) lumber. Termites can't eat it and molds won't infiltrate it. Nothing can soak in or leach out so it's ideal for raised beds.

We have used Trex lumber for planking outside decks and for building indoor-outdoor furniture. It is denser and heavier than softwood dimension lumber and lacks wood's natural scents and textures. (and its knots, splits, warps and splinters). But it saws, planes, nails and accepts paint as well or better than wood. Left unfin ished, Trex weathers to a light silvery gray, similar to cypress or cedar.

The only comparative disadvantage we can see with Trex is that it lacks the long fibers of wood and so is unsuitable for load-carrying structural use, and must be well-supported using 16"-on-center or closer floor joists. This is irrelevant if using it in the garden, but a caveat that its maker always includes in case someone wants to purchase it for nonrecommended use.

While plastic lumbers are not biodegradable, they are completely recyclable. And they need none of the air-polluting evaporative stains, wood preservatives, mold- and mildew-killers and insect-deterrents needed to maintain a wood deck. Of course, you can't burn the short scraps in the fireplace - but you shouldn't burn pressure-treated lumber either, lest you, your kids, pets and wildlife breathe in heavy metal-poisoned smoke.

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