While you’re getting some good ol’ vitamin D, why not get your daily dose of vitamin C—for “circularity”, i.e., from recycled plastic outdoor furniture?
It feels good to be close to nature. Sure, it might not be the Appalachian mountains, but it’s your sanctuary and the perfect opportunity to snatch back a little nature time within easy reach.
Getting out into the fresh air and sitting in your eccological garden, even if it’s just for a few minutes, is a great mood adjuster. If you love the outdoors and want to be able to enjoy it for many years to come, it’s important to do your part to help preserve it.
When it comes to indoor sustainable furniture, plastic usually isn’t our material of choice, but when it comes to patio furniture, plastic (provided it’s recycled and durable) is actually one of the most sustainable options. It’s durable and highly weather-resistant, unlike wood, which can swell, warp, and rot when exposed to sunlight and moisture—plus it won’t give you wood splinters!
In addition to materials, we considered labor practices and various sustainable business initiatives when looking for the sunniest brands for backyard chill time.
Our new Brand Rating System (coming soon) takes this to the next level by considering 22 criteria from transparency to waste and pollution. Next time you’re kicking back on your garden recliner, have a read through of our explainer on how the system works and what it covers.
We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.
Recycled Patio Furniture Brands At The Top Of The Deck
Loll Designs uses ultra-durable high-density polyethylene (HDPE) made partially from recycled materials. After testing, we can confirm that their designs are comfortable and functional, and we love that we can leave this plastic recycled furniture out in all weather, all year round (and still have it last for years and years).
We’re also singing a bluebird song about Yardbird, since their patio furniture made from recycled plastic repurposes around 400,000+ pounds of ocean-bound plastics in any given year.
The Best Recycled Plastic Outdoor Furniture Brands
- Loll Designs Jump to brand
- Yardbird Jump to brand
- Polywood Jump to brand
- C.R Plastic Products Jump to brand
- Emeco Jump to brand
- Breezesta Jump to brand
- Vermont Woods Studios Jump to brand
Loll Designs
About Loll Designs
Price range: $125–$6,185
Loll Designs started life as a building contractor specializing in custom municipal skate parks using recycled post-industrial plastic.
The skate park side of the business was eventually sold, so the owners could focus on “lollygagging” with a wide selection of recycled material outdoor furniture in the USA.
Products like the Rapson Recycled Rocking Chair are made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) primarily sourced from milk jugs.
Loll Designs Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Loll Design’s outdoor furniture made of recycled plastic relies heavily on the #2 type of plastic found in milk jugs—about eight jugs per pound of product.
The recycled patio furniture can be recycled, too, down to the stainless steel fasteners and aluminum inserts.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Loll’s recycled plastic furniture is made in the USA using materials sourced locally.
We’ve yet to hear back from the brand regarding any further fair trade compliance efforts.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
More than 88% of the company’s manufacturing waste is recycled at a local recycling plant. The remainder is incinerated and used to make electricity.
They’ve attained a Cradle to Cradle Certified SILVER™ rating for 84% of the product line after evaluation on five categories including social fairness, water stewardship, carbon management, renewable energy, material reutilization, and material health.
Community & charitable giving:
A member of 1% for the Planet, 1% of gross sales from all plastic recycled furniture sold in the Lollygagger Collection is donated annually to charitable groups.
Loll has been instrumental in the creation of Clean Yer Creek. During this annual spring clean-up event, volunteers gather hundreds of pounds of trash from multiple creeks and plant trees along the creek beds.
My Personal Review of Loll Design’s Lollygagger Lounge Chair:
“I own the Lollygagger Lounge Chair, and it’s now my go-to spot whenever the sun’s out (I’m actually sitting in it while writing this review!). The high back and slightly backward slanted seat make it super comfy, as do the wide armrests, which can also hold my laptop, drinks, and anything else I need to park while I kick back. The material is weather-proof and fade-resistant, so it’s tough but also a breeze to put together. It came in a flat-pack, and I had the whole thing set up solo in about 30 minutes.”
Review by Amber McDaniel, SJ’s Head of Content
Yardbird
About Yardbird
Price Range: $280–$5,800
Yardbird has found a way to beautify your trash and turn it into treasure.
More specifically, recycled plastic outdoor chairs, sofa sets, loveseat sets, dining sets, chaise lounges, and fire table sets.
The Waverly collection uses multi-toned wicker made from recovered ocean-bound plastic wraps.
Yardbird’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
The Waverly recycled lawn furniture sets use 64% recycled plastic and commercial-grade aluminum.
The recycled plastic comes from intercepted ocean plastic. It’s gathered in particularly vulnerable areas in the Philippines and transformed into outdoor patio furniture.
Additional raw materials include real wood (Indonesian teak), foam, fade-and-water-resistant Sunbrella fabric, and recycled HDPE wicker.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Each recycled plastic furniture piece is crafted one-at-a-time using materials sourced from the USA, Asia, and Europe.
Final assembly takes place in Vietnam, China, and the US, though Yardbird has yet to provide details on ethical practices.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
When it comes to getting plastic recycled, furniture may not be the finished product you first think of, but Yardbird proves it has the potential to transform tremendous amounts of it into long-lasting products.
In 2022 alone, they transformed 430,000 pounds of ocean-bound plastics into recycled plastic patio furniture, which can be mostly recycled at end-of-life.
Yardbird also partners with the carbon offset program Carbon Fund.
Polywood
About POLYWOOD
Price Range: $229–$3,195
POLYWOOD by name, POLYWOOD by nature—but the real wood kind of nature.
This brand recycles millions of ocean-bound and landfill-bound containers every year.
For a recycled plastic chair you can comfortably curl up with a sustainability book in, the Nautical Arms Chaise is comfortable yet durably designed to withstand all kinds of weather for years.
POLYWOOD’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
POLYWOOD furniture is made using plastics such as milk jugs that could otherwise pollute oceans and overwhelm landfills.
It can also be recycled when the time comes.
Supply chain & labor practices:
This outdoor furniture made out of recycled plastic is built in the USA, in facilities in Syracuse, Indiana, and Roxboro, North Carolina.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
99% of POLYWOOD’s waste stream is recycled including glass, plastic bottles, shrink wrap, fasteners, and all plastic lumber scrap from the production floor.
C.R Plastic Products
About C.R Plastic Products
Price Range: $142–$747
C.R Plastic Products is an Ontario-based company that creates premium outdoor furniture made from recycled plastic and nothing else.
Take the classic Adirondack Chair, for example, made from 579 single-use milk jugs.
C.R Plastic Products Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
C.R Plastic Product’s catalog includes items made using HDPE plastic found in milk jugs, bottle caps, detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, and juice containers.
It’s ground up, blended with pigment, and remolded into durable outdoor furniture items.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Products are ethically assembled in North America.
Over 200 local employees work in C.R Plastic Product’s vertically integrated facility in Ontario, Canada.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
You can get a lifetime’s use out of each product, as they’re guaranteed never to crack, rot, or split.
Emeco
About Emeco
Price Range: $330–$4,067
Based in Pennsylvania, Emeco is an innovative and unique American-made furniture brand.
The root of the company’s design ethos is a lightweight recycled aluminum chair for Navy warships first made in 1944.
Almost a century later, they still offer this original chair, as well as the updated 111 Navy Chair, which swaps out recycled aluminum for 111 recycled plastic bottles.
If you want classic Americana style with your outdoor furniture, recycled plastic and salvaged aluminum combine to make simple yet stunning pieces of outdoor furniture including chairs, stools, benches, and tables.
Emeco’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Emeco uses almost entirely natural or reclaimed materials, such as reclaimed wood polypropylene (WPP), eco-concrete (made from recycled glass bottles), cork, sustainably harvested wood, plastic bottles (rPET), and recyclable aluminum.
Many of the materials used are Cradle to Cradle Gold and/or FSC-certified.
Most are free from formaldehyde and VOCs.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Emeco’s recycled outdoor furniture is manufactured in Hannover, Pennsylvania, an area famous for Amish woodworkers and responsible wood sourcing.
US manufacturing and local sourcing helps preserve skills and craftsmanship and supports the local economy.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Guided by the motto “make something well, it can survive anything”, Emeco products are designed to last at least 150 years.
The brand works to conserve energy and water and is transparent about its carbon footprint, with published “cradle-to-gate” impact per product.
The Emeco navy chair, for example, has a typical footprint of 14.88 kg CO2e, compared to an average of 30-60 kg CO2e for a standard chair.
Breezesta
About Breezesta
Price Range: $237–$10,270
Breezesta offers a classy selection of “full circle” Adirondack chairs, fire tables, garden benches, and more, all with a limited lifetime warranty.
If you’ve always loved the idea of having a porch swing but don’t have a place to mount one, the Coastal Recycled Plastic Double Glider Loveseat is the perfect no-hang solution to snuggle up with your sweetheart.
They’ll brighten up any backyard homestead, too, with colors ranging from berry red to white recycled plastic outdoor furniture.
Breezesta’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Breezesta has a recycling plant where it converts #2 milk jugs into plastic lumber.
Next to each product in its catalog, you find the number of milk jugs used.
Supply chain & labor practices:
The entire manufacturing process takes place in the USA, from the processing of plastic waste to the construction of the recycled and recyclable plastic furniture.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
The post-consumer and post-industrial recycled plastic are not only recycled, but recyclable at end-of-life.
All other plastic bottles collections are sold off for industrial usage.
Vermont Woods Studios
About Vermont Woods Studios
Price Range: $69–$3,849
Contrary to their name, Vermont Woods Studios isn’t all about wood.
While it does make up their indoor furniture, their outdoor specific range features an innovative all-weather POLYWOOD® recycled plastic.
Resistant to cold, heat, sun-fading, salt, cracking, mold, and corrosive chemicals, this heavy duty material is designed to be left outside year round—without the need for waterproofing or resurfacing.
As for how to clean recycled plastic outdoor furniture from VWS, just soap and water will do.
Their recycled chairs and tables range from single rockers to modular sofas and outdoor dining sets, like the Nautical 7-Piece Dining Set, perfect for your next backyard BBQ get-together.
Vermont Woods Studios’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
POLYWOOD® is made of ~90% post-consumer recycled HDPE plastic, like milk and detergent bottles.
It’s held together with premium 18-8 commercial grade stainless steel hardware.
Some pieces also come with cushions, but we’re not sure what these weather-resistant fabrics are and will be reaching out to ask.
Indoor furniture features North American hardwoods, like cherry and oak, and everything is finished with water based glues and low-VOC finishes.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Everything by this brand is 100% handcrafted in the USA, in their home state of Vermont, using locally logged lumber.
Carbon commitments & green practices:
Their Vermont HQ is based on their own 109 acres of wooded forest, for which they worked with the National Wildlife Federation to become a certified wildlife habitat.
It features pollinator gardens, a food forest for visitors, and an outdoor wood boiler powered by their own wood—which of course is cut via sustainable single tree selection logging.
Everything comes with a lifetime guarantee that covers nearly everything except user mistreatment.
Community & charitable giving:
From the start, this 1% for the Planet member has aimed to “use business as a vehicle to advocate for wildlife conservation and forest preservation”.
Through the La Cruz Habitat Protection Program, they’ve planted almost 250,000 trees, helping reforest areas in Central America critical for the survival of the Monarch butterfly.
