The Reuse of Treated Wood

The primary goals of this chapter are to identify barriers to the reuse of treated lumber, to describe the physical properties of spent chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated lumber coming from residential decks and to identify potential products and markets that can use spent treated lumber. This chapter will focus primarily on CCA-treated lumber because it has been the primary chemical used since the early 1970s and represents the largest volume of treated lumber coming out of service. CCA treatment of lumber has been largely discontinued; however, the challenges facing the reuse of CCA-treated wood will most likely be similar to those posed by other types of treated wood in the future. Successful methods to reuse treated wood will have an effect in three principal areas: (1) conserving both public and private softwood forests, (2) reducing the area of public and private land utilized for landfills, and (3) providing new economic opportunities via the creation of recycling businesses.