Environmentalists and also regular people concerned about the ways in which humans interact with the world around them, there has been a question of growing concern: Wooden windows or plastic windows which one is better for the environment? The reason this is so is because housing needs have been intensifying as populations around the globe continue to grow. More housing is needed, of course, meaning more of everything related to housing, including plastics and woods, is also needed.

In looking at windows, it’s important to understand that the issue with them usually never involves the glass contained within, because that material is almost completely organic in nature. Made from sand and its constituents, it poses little threat to the environment, quite frankly. However, depending on how they’re manufactured, woods and plastics can present more of a burden though, it has to be said, wood is generally less so.

Plastic-framed windows, in many cases, aren’t what environmentalists call “biodegradable.” That means that the constituent plastics used in the frame will take a very long time to break down and even if they could, the chemicals used to make polyvinyl chloride (plastic) can be extremely toxic. The benefit to plastic windows, if they’re disposed of properly, is that they can be easily recycled, though it remains to be seen if plastic should be used in the first place.

Wooden windows, on the other hand — especially when they’re made from organically-grown and then processed wood — can be significantly less burdensome to the environment. The cost of making a wooden window in an eco-friendly manner can be higher when compared to the cost of manufacturing a plastic window, but the benefit to the environment can be quite significant. The use of natural lacquers and preservative shellacs also helps to make wood attractive.

In order to arrive, then, at a definitive answer when it comes to plastic versus wood is in just how the windows will be disposed of or reused. Wooden windows, when manufactured in an environmentally-aware fashion, place less of a burden on the environment as long as they’re created in a kind of “organic” manner. Plastics can place a high burden on the environment because they never degrade and because the chemicals used in them can be highly toxic.

So, then; the question at hand (wooden windows or plastic windows which one is better for the environment?) would seem to be easy enough to answer. At present, there’s really no way to make plastics nearly as safe for the environment as wood can be, especially when natural processes are used to cull, cut, shape and then join the woods used for the frame. It would seem, then, that wooden windows are better for the environment, generally speaking.

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