Fiberon honored for sustainability aspects

Maumee, Ohio-based Fiberon's recycled-content Wildwood composite cladding has earned a Green Good Design award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design.

The awards have been designed to recognize products and projects that “are leading the global way to a design that is fully sustainable and compatible with the highest standards of good environment,” according to Fiberon.

The building products maker says the composite cladding is made from 94 percent mixed recycled plastic and wood fiber content, and calls Wildwood a key component in its “ability to save more than 1 million trees and repurpose an average of 100 million pounds [50,000 tons] of recycled plastic each year.”

“While the material makeup of Wildwood is impressive on its own from a sustainability standpoint, we’re even more proud of our dedication to clean manufacturing,” says Kate Haws, director of brand marketing at Fiberon.

The company says it reuses nearly all waste produced from the manufacturing process, from misfit boards to router clippings. 

Every Fiberon plant uses a closed-loop system to conserve water, the company says, and the reservoirs store and recycle the same water every day, “preventing billions of gallons of water—enough to fill 5,300 Olympic-size swimming pools—from ending up in the waste stream."

“Sustainability is as much about process as it is about product,” says Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, president and CEO of the Chicago Athenaeum. “Effective sustainable design is a comprehensive approach to selecting and integrating products and processes that account for long-term consumer satisfaction and environmental conservation.”

Wildwood is available in a variety of board lengths and widths to offer design flexibility.

The building products maker says Wildwood cuts and installs similarly to real wood without the hassle and does not require the same staining and painting maintenance that wood requires—making it ideal for architects who want a long-lasting, maintenance-free, sustainable alternative to traditional wood cladding.

Fiberon, founded in 1997, manufactures Fiberon PE wood-alternative decking, railing and cladding that is distributed worldwide. The company also provides lighting and outdoor furniture and has operations centers in North Carolina and Idaho.