Rotterdam krijgt 3d-geprinte voetgangersbrug van bijna 6,5 meter lang

Sourcing Of Materials – wood comes from trees, which are a renewable natural resource. Trees can be sustainably grown and managed as tree stock. Plastic comes from natural gas and crude oil non renewable fossil fuel feedstock.
Production – Wood can be fairly energy efficient in production compared to metal and plastic. Most of the energy used in timber production especially comes in drying the timber (fwpa.com.au). Materials such as concrete, plastic or aluminium, require a lot of energy from fossil fuels to produce compared to timber (reuters.com). Trees also absorb carbon. In addition, there is very little waste when wooden products are made, whether it’s floorboards, furniture, doors, or something else entirely. Any residual chippings can be burned as an energy source, or used as sawdust during manufacture (greenne.com)
Delivery & Transport – wood is usually heavier than plastic, which might make delivering and transporting it more expensive, and use more fuel and have a higher carbon footprint. It may also be less space efficient.

Waste Management & Recycling – [Timber mills make use of] The entire tree … Bark is removed and used for mulch and decorative landscaping. First cuts and unusable board feet are recovered or culled for use in engineered wood products. Board ends are cut up and sold as hobby wood. Sawdust and shavings are packaged for animal bedding. In some mills, scrap wood is even used to produce energy or steam to keep the mill and kilns running (ironwoods.com). The incineration of timber for energy production can be regarded as CO2 neutral (sustainability.stackexchange.com). In addition, wood is usually able to be upcycled, salvaged, and reclaimed easily from timber mills (used for secondary applications such as mulching and used for landscaping for example, or, off cuts can be used for other uses). Using recycled wood in construction and then burning it as fuel could lead to a reduction in carbon emissions by up to 135 million tonnes a year (reuters.com). Of the approximate 70m tons of wood sent to landfill annually, the US government estimates 30m tons of it could have been reused [and there is potential to reclaim more wood from house remodelling and demolition than what we currently do] (theguardian.com). Plastic can be incinerated, but plastic also usually has a low recycling rate (as low as 9% of total plastic is recycled in some major countries).
Pollution – plastic pollution (in the ocean and on land in soil and rivers) is currently a far bigger issue than pollution from wood or timber.
Impact On Humans – the potential negative impact of plastic on humans and human health is more significant than wood (additives in plastic like BPA for example is one concern). Micro plastics in the air indoors that humans may inhale are also more closely linked to plastic furniture and textiles.
Impact On Wild Life & Environment – plastic, via ingestion and entanglement and leaching of chemicals, probably has a worser impact on wild life than wood. Although, you have to make sure wood doesn’t come from ‘illegal logging or irresponsible deforestation’ (reuters.com)
Durability – both materials can last a long time, but hardwood in particular can last up to 100 years as a door (greenne.com)
Cost/Economy – both materials are reasonably affordable. Wood can beat out plastic for some product though – ‘Wooden pallets are often less expensive to acquire than plastic pallets, and they are usually able to be used for more extended periods of time’ (palletone.com)
Wood vs Plastic In Building, Furniture & Other Applications – Wood is more favorable than most other material substitutes when it comes to global warming potential of different materials in construction and furniture (sustainability.stackexchange.com). Other studies also show wood as being one of the most eco friendly materials across various measures/indicators for building materials, furniture, TV units, window frames, and other applications (fwpa.com.au). Furniture, floors and doors made out of wood require less energy to produce than aluminium or plastic, and on top of that wood continues to store carbon for years … Carbon stored by wood products offsets nearly all of the greenhouse gas emissions related to their production (reuters.com). Wood is by far the superior choice for building in all categories: total energy used to build, occupy, and dispose of; air and water emissions produced during manufacturing; solid waste generated in production and recovery; greenhouse gases produced during manufacturing; ecological resource use (ironwoods.com). In the ironwoods.com resource link below, they have two good tables comparing wood and plastic across various eco and performance indicators