Invest in Recycled Sustainable Outdoor Products
TDP build quality outdoor products to last from recycled plastic waste. We take great care ensuring each item is an investment for your future use. But it is more than that. Own a piece of furniture from us and you’ll also be investing in the future of our planet. From chairs to picnic benches, nest boxes to planters, we pride ourselves on using only UK recycled plastic waste in our products. It is not at our factory that our journey of sustainability begins but back at the beginning when households and businesses first recycle their plastic waste.
Invest in recycling…
The recycling plant in the north of England takes the collected waste. This is a mix of low and high density polyethylene. It is here that the plastic waste is cleaned and sorted. Any impurities (including metals which are recycled separately) are removed. The plastic is then ground up into pellets.
These pellets are then melted down and poured into moulds. To create a wood grain effect on the plank each mould is patterned inside. We use these to give our outdoor products a wood appearance. To give an idea of scale, the equivalent of 6,000 bottle tops produce one 3m plank.
The UK produces around 2.4 million tonnes each year of plastic waste with 1.7 million tonnes coming from households. Despite more people in the UK recycling, we currently only recycle around 50% of our plastic bottles. Our products showcase what can be achieved through recycling and the difference that we can make to ensure plastics are kept from being sent to landfill or polluting our oceans. Every item recycled really does count – even that one small bottle top goes into making our furniture!
Invest in conserving natural resources…
Recycling also reduces the demand for virgin plastic, which depletes our limited natural resources. Producing one tonne of recycled TDP material, compared to the same weight of virgin plastic, saves 66% in energy, 66% in sulphur dioxide, 50% in nitrous oxide, 90% in water, 250% in carbon dioxide and 1.8 tonnes of oil.
Invest in British made products…
We are proud that all of our furniture is manufactured and assembled exclusively in Britain. We are able to trace every profile we use back to the recycling plant in northern England. Knowing their origin means we are assured that the plastic waste we use has a minimal carbon footprint. At no point do our products contain plastic waste that has been imported into the UK for recycling, neither do they contain waste that has been exported for recycling only to return as finished profiles, which would make them unsustainable.
Invest in a greener planet…
Since we started manufacturing in 2013 TDP has used over 2,600 tonnes of recycled plastic waste in our products to 2019. Plastic can take a thousand years to decompose so we’re helping to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and turning it into useful products too. Our commitment to sustainability and reduced carbon footprint doesn’t stop here. We manufacture our furniture is such a way to ensure minimal waste is produced. What little there is, goes back to be recycled. It is also designed to last a lifetime so won’t need to be replaced a few years down the line. Due to the nature of the material, minimal aftercare is required to keep our products looking like new so negating the need for harsh chemicals. Even our staff live locally so we don’t clock up the miles commuting to work each day!
Our commitment to environmental sustainability ensures the processes involved in the manufacture of our products is as important to us as the finished pieces of furniture themselves. We know the journey our plastic waste takes so we can guarantee the provenance of every one of our products. This assures you of high quality furniture that will last a lifetime whilst also being kind to the planet too.
You can read more about recycling plastics on the WRAP UK site