Eco-Friendly Options Among Wood, Composite, and Plastic DeckingWhen selecting green deck materials, consider content, resources, and life cycle.

New Jersey deck builder Gustavio del la Cruz says his Millston Township remodeling company, Barrett Contracting, is "in the direction of being green," but that it's hard to nail down which decking products are eco-friendly. Few of his consumers ask for green decks--and those who do can't figure out if wood, wood-plastic composites, or all-plastic deck boards are greenest. With no green standards in the deck-building industry, many remodelers likely don't know, either.

Indeed, decking manufacturers themselves are still figuring it out. Manufacturers of products ranging from uncertified but chemical-free exotic hardwoods to all-virgin, recyclable PVC deck boards claim their products are as eco-friendly as plantation-grown, pressure-treated wood or recycled-content, hard-to-dispose-of composites.

Here is a review of the green claims and qualities of the most common decking materials.

Solid Wood

The oldest and most popular decking material is also the one that is renewable: wood.

Western cedar and redwood are homeowner favorites because of their rich color and natural resistance to rot and insects. Decks made from FSC- or SFI-certified wood are universally accepted as green because suppliers can prove that their wood comes from sustainably managed forests.

Still, there's plenty of redwood and cedar on the market that comes from poorly managed forests whose owners indulge in unsustainable harvesting. Plus, some builders say wood from young redwood trees does not have the natural resistance of old growth.