Recycled Plastic Patio Furniture: Better Than Wood?

When choosing furniture to decorate your outdoor space, there is really no better option than NeoTimber’s recycled plastic patio furniture range. We understand that with such an abundance of visually attractive outdoor furniture on the market, it can be difficult to know what to choose. However, good rule of thumb is to think about how the furniture will look after a couple of years exposed to the elements. It might look great when initially purchased, but will it still look good further down the line? This is where our recycled plastic patio furniture comes out on top, as its easy clean surface means that it will look the best it can be for far longer. In this article, we will outline some of our favourites in our range of high-quality, premium designs. Let’s take a look.

There is a huge amount of alternative materials available for outdoor furniture, and we cannot deny that many of them have a high quality visual appeal. Timber, wicker, and rattan imbue a naturalistic aesthetic, while metal embodies a sleek, modern sense of sophistication. Great looks, however, can fade. Natural materials, such as timber, wicker, and rattan, will eventually begin to rot and break apart if they absorb too much moisture, and can rapidly lose their colour if kept in the direct gaze of intense sunlight.

To preserve timber from rotting, it has to be painted or stained with preservatives, which protects the surface. Unfortunately, this rarely makes the furniture look exactly as it did when it was brand new. Paint will run and dry in uneven streaks if not applied consistently, and the staining effect will drastically darken the overall look of the timber material. Similarly, metal furniture, unless oiled or powder coated, is prone to rust. Many homeowners choose stark, crisp black or white metal furniture, only to be disappointed years later when rust has transformed the colour into an ugly red-brown tone.

NeoTimber’s recycled plastic patio furniture, unlike many of these furniture options, is designed to last. On top of plenty of other advantages, the plastic material is weatherproof and UV stable, protecting it from the harmful effects of moisture and sunlight. Both of these factors can massively impact the overall look and feel of your furniture over time. For example, sunlight bleaching can rapidly make any timber furniture, and the space around it, appear tired and worn.

Recycled plastic is also an extremely low maintenance, needing only an occasional basic clean to keep it looking its best, a vast improvement compared to the time consuming tasks of painting, preserving, or oiling needed with certain other types of furniture. All you need is a bucket of hot, soapy water, armed with a sponge or a lint-free cloth, and you should be able to tackle even the most persistent staining.

NeoTimber’s range of recycled plastic patio furniture products gives you plenty of versatile design options to populate your space. From our simplistic, traditional City and Sloper benches, to the more stylised Curved and Straight Edge variants, we’ll have something to suit what you’re looking for. Some of our products even offer a small degree of customisation. For example, our Round table and Moulded Benches can be purchased with Backless seats, or with the added support of a Backrest.

All of our plastic furniture comes supplied in either black or brown tones, to help seamlessly blend in with a more natural environment. This makes it the perfect choice for garden projects, public parks, and also commercial spaces. The compacted texture of the recycled plastic fibres also gives it an edge over more brittle types of patio plastic furniture, which often comes supplied in an easily stained white.