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Wood-plastic composites market share has been growing rapidly, especially for applications such as decking and railing, in the past five years. It is projected that the sales of WPCs in 2005 would exceed $1.0 billion (Wolcott and Smith, 39th International Wood Composites Symposium, 2005). Two-thirds of the WPCs produced are comprised of decking and railing products, accounting for $0.7 billion. WPC window and door frames are projected to be valued at approximately $0.27 billion. Other potential applications for WPCs include siding, roofing, residential fencing, picnic tables, benches, landscape timber, patios, gazebos and walkways, and playground equipment. Wolcott and Smith graphically depict the timeline of development of WPCs for a variety of applications. To view it, Click Here
The main drivers for WPC acceptance are:
- Improved resource utilization
- Improved performance/appearance attributes over existing products
- Stricter regulations on the use of chemicals in building materials (such as phasing out of CCA treated lumber for residential use)
- Gaining acceptability among builders
- Life-cycle cost benefits
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