<p>Kaolin (Kaol) was firstly organized with benzyl triphenyl phosphorus chloride (BTPPC), then the organic kaolin (B-Kaol), wood flour (WF), HDPE recycled particles (R-HDPE) and so on were fused to prepare a series of wood plastic composites (WPCs) by melt extrusion. The properties of the composites before and after freeze–thaw were analyzed by Fourier transforminfrared spectrometry (FTIR), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and dynamic thermo-mechanical analysis (DMA). The results showed that BTPPC could successfully intercalated into kaolin layers. When the addition amount of B-Kaol was 1, 3 and 5%, the B-Kaol was in a delaminated state and well dispersed in WPC. WPC/B-Kaol-3 exhibited better water resistance, color stability, heat deflection temperature (HDT), erosion wear resistance and mechanical properties than WPC/Kaol-3. When B-Kaol was added to WPC, the HDT, erosion wear resistance and mechanical properties of WPC/B-Kaol first increased and then decreased, while its performance decline rate after freeze–thaw first decreased and then increased. After freeze–thaw, the performances of all WPC declined, and the performance decline rate of WPC/B-Kaol was lower than that of WPC on the whole. The decline rates of tensile strength, flexural strength, flexural modulus and notched impact strength of WPC/B-Kaol-5 were 11.3, 11.2, 11.5 and 21.5%, which were, respectively, 56.4, 57.9, 46.0 and 47.0% lower than that of WPC (25.9, 26.6, 21.3 and 40.6%).</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>