KEDEL School Outdoor BENCHES ARE MADE TO LAST  

Kedel school outdoor benches are demolishing competition from the cheaper wooden designs traditionally found in parks, schools, and pub gardens, because they last at least 5 times longer than treated wood timber (see WRAP study). In as little as one year, wood benches will look jaded, while Kedel's school picnic tables and benches will still look like new. There is no significant change in appearance even after many years of use and continual exposure to the elements. You can expect our school outdoor benches to last a lifetime and maintain its appearance, without any maintenance other than cleaning. 

WE USE 3 VARIETIES OF RECYCLED PLASTIC 

Recycled mixed plastic  - HDPE (High density polyethylene) and LDPE (Low density polyethylene), made from recycled plastic milk bottles and a variety of other waste,  Synthetic wood, made entirely from recycled polystyrene, and  multicoloured Recycled Sheet  (80% recycled HDPE). 

SYNTHETIC WOOD OR PLASTIC WOOD (STYRENE) BENCHES 

Synthetic wood  is made from recycled waste polystyrene. This is the same stuff used to package your meat or fish at the supermarket, and in take away packaging, coffee cups, and packaging of electrical goods. We take this type of material, which has been melted down and made into pellets, heat it, and mix it with colour pigments, before extruding it through a metal die. The compression and melting gives us a product with the same density and weight as some South American hard woods. Recycled Plastic Wood  exhibits many of the same working properties as wood. It has the same look and feel of wood, and can be  worked with normal woodworking tools  - screwed, glued and sawn just like wood. Our designers were delighted with the authentic wood-like finish, which can easily be manufactured in any RAL colour. 

The colour is added during manufacture, and is the same throughout the material, so it will never need paint. It doesn't flake or crack, is UV resistant, and keeps its colour even in direct sunshine. Wooden garden benches have taken quite a battering in our UK winters - they swell up in the wet, and shrink in the dry weather. Along with frost in winter, this causes warping, cracks, and flaking of paint and varnish.   

On the other hand, our school outdoor benches don't absorb moisture - due to their waterproof nature, no water or frost damage is ever done to recycled plastic garden furniture. If it rains, just wipe it off and sit down immediately without getting damp.  

This is a genuine no maintenance, long lasting product. 

IS WOOD OVERRATED?  

One of our customers complained that we had sent them wood instead of  recycled plastic.  

Recycled plastic lumber benches  will soon become the norm, saving the worlds hard wood forests, and keeping plastic out of landfill. A garden bench made of plastic is not only a sustainable option, but our garden furniture lives on for decades. Our garden furniture products retain their color, so no painting needed!  

About 30% of UK landfill is made up of plastic. We can reduce our carbon footprint significantly by using it instead to provide beautiful, useful, maintenance-free products, with all the advantages of plastic while keeping much of the aesthetics of wood. 

SOURCING IS IMPORTANT TO US.  

Our mixed plastic benches and garden furniture products are made from a mixture of plastics including HDPE and LDPE. This makes them very robust and hard wearing. Maintenance will never be needed as they will never rot. The  recycled lumber  we use for a  garden bench comes from old paint trays, milk cartons, buckets and most of the recycled waste British families throw away daily.  

Kedel recycled plastic materials are sourced in the UK wherever possible. We do not use foreign imported plastics from China and other parts of Asia for sound environmental reasons - i.e. they carry a significantly higher carbon footprint due to the burning of fossil fuels for additional transportation. 

MEETING GOVERNMENT CARBON TARGETS  

When you buy  Garden and Park Benches  from Kedel, you are not only acquiring a convenient maintenance free product, but making a direct contribution to reducing the impact human beings have on global warming and climate change. 

This eco-friendly, green sourcing of  outdoor park and street furniture  is a valuable incentive for customers when tendering for or buying for institutional or government projects. It is both ethically relevant and economically advantageous for all parties concerned, and enables governments to meet their recycling and carbon reduction targets. 

Purchasing our recyclable furniture is actively helping us combat the scourge that is waste pollution. Our garden benches are made from household waste that would otherwise be destined for landfill or the ocean. Once in the landfill, plastic can take decades to biodegrade. Further, it endangers the animals that might mistake it for food.  Read more about plastic pollution on our blog here.