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Innovations
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Special Treatment: Disposing of CCA-Treated Wood W. Conard Holton Abstract
Illustration: Greenwell/EHP, Reuther/EHP The average service life of wood treated with the pesticide chromated copper arsenate (CCA) is 25 years. When that service life is done, the wood is typically put in an unlined landfill, recycled as mulch, or burned for fuel. But because these disposal methods can allow the toxic metals in CCA-treated wood to spread in the environment, alternatives are needed. One option is a new incineration technique developed by a team of Florida researchers that reduces the level of arsenic in emissions while binding the metals in the ash so they do not leach when landfilled. Another option is recycling CCA-treated wood into concrete composites and oriented strandboard. Still another is enhanced sorting techniques that use a special dye or laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy to separate treated wood from untreated scraps, which can be burned for fuel safely.
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