Despite being illegal, many people burn CCA treated wood and the results are bad for your health
No doubt, you’ve heard the rumblings of using pressure treated wood, not only for raised garden beds but for play sets, decking, picnic tables, and more. The concerns are valid leading to its withdrawal from the marketplace in 2004 and safer alternatives. From changes in the chemicals used to treat wood to more rot resistant, natural choices and even post-consumer recycled products, eco-friendly gardeners have plenty of choices these days. Yet chances are pretty good that you have at least some of this wood somewhere in your yard or garden right now.
All the hype came about when lumber was impregnated with chromated copper arsenate. You know it as “CCA”. It was to be the answer for anyone needing an inexpensive choice for long-lasting, rot-resistant lumber. It was readily available and touted as safe, even though the wood was treated with chemicals that were all toxic (chromium, copper and arsenic).
Pressure treated (CCA) lumber has enough toxic chemicals to qualify as a hazardous waste. It’s hard to believe but just one 12 foot long 2×6 piece of CCA lumber contains enough arsenic (one ounce) to kill over 200 people. But what’s even more unbelievable is that industry lobbyist in Washington, D.C secured an exemption of CCA treated wood from hazardous waste disposal laws.
Armed with that interesting tidbit of information, it is not surprising then to find that the EPA doesn’t offer much assistance when it comes to specific help regarding the safe disposal of CCA lumber. In fact, disposal information is only one sentence: “CCA treated wood can be disposed of with regular municipal trash (i.e., municipal solid waste, not yard waste).” That may be alright with you but that’s no comfort to me when you learn that the U.S. Department of Energy projects over 400 million board feet of it will be disposed of by 2016. And I’m allowed to just haul my old CCA wood to the dump and walk away. Wow!
Although it is illegal to incinerate CCA treated wood in all 50 states, it is often burned by individuals as scrap firewood, in campsites and construction sites, all the while releasing highly toxic chemicals into the air. Furthermore, the resulting ashes contain potentially fatal levels of arsenic that can easily be inhaled. And then there are a few overly resourceful recyclers that choose to grind up CCA lumber as mulch and then sell it to us so we can put it back into or gardens and around our food crops. This is a very bad idea!
Even placing discarded CCA lumber into unlined landfills where it leaches into the earth and can be potentially carried into ground water is alarming, as are the rest of the examples cited above. Unfortunately, all these methods of disposal and more are implemented every day.
Landfills that have protective liners are currently the most eco-friendly way to dispose of treated wood. Liners prevent possible seeping of contaminants into ground water and provide a much safer disposal method than disposal into unlined landfills.
New ways of safely disposing of CCA treated lumber are being explored around the world. Incineration methods are in various stages of development that may someday provide another option for disposing of CCA wood in a safe and viable manner.
It seems surprising that in spite of the abundance or CCA treated wood in existence, there are not more options for disposing of it safely. You may have better luck by checking with your local government or municipal authorities. They may offer additional disposal resources or provide information and restrictions on disposing of CCA treated wood in your community.
I recognize that I haven’t offered you much in the way of specific suggestions for the safest and most environmentally friendly disposal methods of CCA treated wood. And that’s simply because today, there aren’t many. But I hope that by at least reading this article, you are more aware of the potential problems of disposing of it improperly, and at least that’s a start.
About Joe Lamp'l
Joe Lamp'l is the Host and Executive Producer of the award winning PBS television series Growing A Greener World. Off camera, Joe dedicates his time to promoting sustainability through his popular books, blog, podcast series, and nationally syndicated newspaper columns. Follow Joe on Twitter
A big thank you for your time and effort you put in for the latest news and information about this product.
Sincerely
Daniel N. Allen
Thank you Daniel. We are glad to hear the information is useful.
Happy Gardening!
By pressure treated, do you mean, arsenic treated, or do you not? Because I need to find out more about arsenic treated wood and the pro’s and con’s of removing it. Is that something you can help me with?
Oh, haha, I must have missed it. Nvrmind…. LOL…. sorry.
Yes, my article was based on the older practices of treating wood with chemicals that included arsenic (primarily CCA). However, the rules changed and it’s been a long time now since lumber treated with CCA has been utilized.
Furthermore, may I say that good luck on contacting anyone about cca pressure treated wood as no one seems to care. I went to the mayor of this city, governor of the state and numerous other call’s. NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE THAT CCA BOARD IS A KILLER and it makes people very sick. I tried to get this house condemned and it is still there as are thousands of other houses like it built with cca board in Florida.
Get rid of it all………………..
Chromanate Copper Arsenate Board is TOXIC!!!!!!!!
I lost everything I owned because, the builders of this house I bought in Florida had cca board built all through it. The boards leeched out and made us sick and destroyed our home.
A pressure-treated wood fence was already installed when I moved in April 2002, and I have pressure washed this fence once a month since. Do these chemicals fall into the soil? My lawn looks fine and lush, and I have not seen any MT markings on the wood of this 4 foot by about 30 foot long fence. Is there any way to find someone who might want to take the fence down and reuse or install it for a fence in his or her yard? Is that safe or allowed?
I don’t know of any laws or rules agains this and seriously doubt that there are any. While there may have been some leaching, they don’t fall from the wood. I would not hesitate to offer this to someone that may want it through a newspaper ad or online source like http://www.craigslist.com or http://www.feecycle.org. I commend you for making it available to someone that will keep using it as a fence vs. tearing it down and sending it to the landfill or burning it, which would be much worse.
The only potential caveat would be if someone were using these boards for a raised bed vegetable garden. I would shy away from using it for that.
Hello, I am trying to make my raised garden beds from recycled wood. I have considered breaking up, and using pallet wood… Do you think this will work, and be sturdy for years to come?
Christine, pallet wood in good condition could be a reasonable choice, IF it’s “heat treated”. You’ll know that because somewhere on the pallet you should see a brand (as in burn mark or stamp on the wood) that is indicated my the letters “HT”.
However, do NOT use pallets if you see the letter “MB”. This stands for metal bromide, a toxic pesticide used to treat pallets usually shipped from overseas.
Sometimes you won’t find any markings, which could mean they are untreated completely. I have some like that I use for my compost bins. They are simply fresh pallets made in the U.S from local or regional hardwoods. They will last for years and are very sturdy but not as thick as I’d like for when placed on their side for a raised bed. But the price is right and if it’s hardwood vs. pine, they will last quite a while.
We just took down an old deck . The deck surface was redwood but the wood underneath is all pressure treated wood. The deck was built in 1988 so was the wood really toxic 26 years ago?
Do the toxins leach out of the wood over time? It sounds like it will be difficult to dispose of it safely. We live in the north Bay Area in California. Any suggestions?
There are some old landscaping timbers and cross ties in our driveway that have been in place for 20+ years. They were here when we purchased the property two years ago and neighbors say the original owner put them in the yard. The previous owner has since died. The timbers and ties are so dried out that they crumble when you pull them up. Would it be ok to burn the pieces? We do not know if they have been pressure treated. Please email me your ideas. Thanks.
Hi Evelyn. I honestly don’t know. But I’m posting your question here in hopes that others might. Thanks.
Hello Joe, last year we bought pretreated fence posts. As you said it is not cca wood. I am wondering if it also needs to be disposed of as carefully as it’s forefathers? We just have the tops that we cut off that we need to get rid of. Thanks for any help you can give. Heather
Hi Heather. Great of you to care enough about taking the time to ask. Fortunately, the treated wood of today doesn’t carry the same hazardous and environmental risks of its predecessors. Therefore, you can use conventional methods for disposing of this.
I need to know where in Monroe County, Stroudsburg Pennsylvania is there a drop off for pre-treated wood. We too down a fence and would like to properly dispose of the wood. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Hi Virginia. I suggest you call your county solid waste department to find out where to take this. I hope they actually have such a place for disposal of this type of material. My fear is that they will just suggest you take it to the landfill. Thank you for wanting to do the right thing by disposing of this properly. Good luck.
Joe, Three years ago?! Well, I’m glad you wrote it and that I found it.
I think of myself as green and getting greener, BUT… I went, bought, and cut pressure treated decking…not thinking. Ugh. (I should know better.) Hence, I found you’re blog.
Anyway, I appreciate the statistics and news (for me) regarding the “treatment” of this toxic product by our seemingly ever malleable legislative representation.
I will pass on your article on Twitter (I’m @Gunc_In_Pa) and try to get around mentioning it on my developing educational blog, WaxOnWaxOff (via WordPress).
Truly,
Greg Zahm
HS Teacher & Writer
Thanks Greg. Good luck with your garden. Don’t beat yourself up about your purchase. Fortunately the products used for treating wood today aren’t the villans of the past. It is frustrating though trying to stay ahead of it all, especially with such “representation” by our “leaders’.
Need to know where to drope off old lumber from an old fence