Cleaning up their act

In what is believed to be a first for a UK-based polymer processing company, Ecodek has achieved “carbon negative” status for the production of its wood-polymer composite (WPC) decking system.

A life-cycle assessment programme, undertaken by the BioComposites Centre of Bangor University, considered production of the decking on a cradle to factory gate basis, accounting for all significant materials, transport, energy use and packaging inputs.

Results showed that production actually had a net effect of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere rather than adding to it – this being “carbon negative”.

Alex Collins, Technical Director at Ecodek, said: “Carbon negativity is defined as the reduction of an entity’s carbon footprint to less than neutral, so that the entity in question – in this case Ecodek – has a net effect of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere rather than adding to it. To achieve negativity requires a much more aggressive approach than carbon neutrality, which merely nullifies the effect that an entity has on the environment”.

www.ecodek.co.uk