What are the differences among zBoards, particleboard, plywood, solid wood, or MDF?
zBoards are made almost entirely (99%) from post-consumer recycled paper, and do not consume additional natural resources like trees and the enormous amounts of water needed to make virgin paper. While very strong, paper zBoards are made from the lightest form of wood byproduct. Particleboard is made from wood particles (like wood chips, sawmill shavings, or sawdust), which is bound together with synthetic resin or other materials, then pressed and extruded. It is fairly heavy. Plywood is engineered from thin sheets of wood veneer in layers that are glued together. It’s fairly heavy and expensive. It also means that trees must be chopped down to harvest the wood. Solid wood is made directly from lumber, which means chopping down thousands of trees which adds to the continuing deforestation of large areas of our planet. Solid wood furniture is heavy and generally very expensive. MDF stands for medium density fiberboard, a variety of particleboard. It’s made by breaking down softwood int
