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Toxic timber

M

Mike Jordan

Sapling
Joined
Mar 10, 2017
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430
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Location
Littleover Derby.
I’ve just been viewing a site on which large numbers of wooden items are advertised as having been made from recycled pallet wood. I am aware that toxic treatments on pallets are not supposed to be allowed here or in European countries, but by their very nature these things must travel round the world.
It seems logical to me that those that are not reused as pallets must be uneconomic to return to country of origin and then available as “free wood”and are most likely not compliant with regulations we might follow.
I am wondering if the operators of the sites advertising these products are ensuring that the makers are aware of the risks involved and if anybody involved carries product liability cover.
I saw TV shots of large bonfires awaiting lighting to mark the recent jubilee and observed many blue painted pallets included, so it seems that not everyone is aware of the rules.
 
I fear that the lack of any response bears out my conviction that those who make use of this material prefer to keep up the pretence that there is no hazard either from the toxins used to make the timer proof against pests,or any possible contamination from chemical or biological contamination from the materials carried on the pallets. While channel hopping a couple of evenings ago I saw Charlie Dimmock on a garden rescue type programme. What were they working on - an outside bar made from pallet wood. I heard no mention of any hazard and how to avoid it.
Some of the timbers we use are known to be toxic or irritant and sensible woodworkers protect themselves from the dust. I don’t believe that this material should be allowed to fall into the hands of anyone unless it can be proved to be identified and known to be safe.
 
Mike, I think it more likely that the experienced woodworkers here are in fact already well aware.

I am presently collecting pallet wood. However, I happen to have a source of guaranteed chemical and toxin free pallet wood, as it is used to package glass and stainless steel equipment for immediate commercial use in the food industry. It is rough sawn but surprisingly good quality. Every pallet has a safety label.

When I look around the industrial estate where her business is, much of which is devoted to food distribution on a large scale, it is evident that pallet knowledge is very much in place. I see a lot of blue dyed pallets in one location, carefully stacked and never mixed. Likewise red pallets, plastic pallets and steel framed pallets. These things are not cheap any more (the high grade ones) and few are incinerated.

Kind regards, Adrian
 
I, for one, am not conversant with the meaning of markings or colours on pallets, and would welcome an explanation, or a link to such.
So far, my use of pallets has been limited to the construction of composting enclosures in our paddock, and I've not used any blue or red ones, but I would like to know more.
 
I honestly would've thought the pallet wood craze would have died out by now but it's still going strong surprisingly, much like the silly used scaffold plank craze which has ruined secondhand planer thicknessers up and down the country.

Some pallets are like gas cylinders, you own the gas but the supplier owns the cylinder and you must return it, eventually. The blue and red ones are owned by their respective pallet pooling companies and that's why they are segregated in yards as a big lorry will come around eventually and collect them and take them back to base, the colouring is simply to indicate ownership and as far as I'm aware there's no treatment on them beyond a colour.

I agree that possibly TV programmes should take more responsibility when showing pallet wood projects and the like because of the health concerns of using potentially treated pallets (though I imagine they're quite rare, I've not seen one for a long time). Going back to the gas cylinder example, the exact same happened a few years ago when a guy on TV was cutting Calor gas cylinders to use as lamp shades, both the issue of the bottles being owned by Calor and the fact that cutting them could present a serious risk of explosion if not properly vented, the programme had to issue a statement on the following weeks episode telling people not to replicate it.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...vator-cutting-gas-canister-light-fitting.html
 
Thanks Adrian, It’s cheering to hear that the colour system and the relatively high value is helping the situation. It’s the ummarked one trip pallets that seem to offer the “free wood” it looks like rubbish and I’m sure it is. I was horrified to see adverts for items for sale that people might use in the home and even for use in contact with food. YouTube features lots of pallet wood projects together with a few people warning of the risks.
John - Details and pictures of the markings can be found if you Google IPPC.
 
I"m not enthusiastic about re-used pallet wood, but I think you can worry too much. The painted ones are returnable, don't use them, they are multi-use, so more probably treated, and ... covered in lurid paint.

The natural coloured, single use pallets are a different story. Usually marked "HT" for heat treated, they don't waste chemicals on them, the owners don't expect them back, and being single use carried what arrived on them, which in our case is usually electrical gear or cables so pretty harmless. Being single use they are also rubbish wood, often with live edges, and so mostly fit for firewood.

It is easy to Google the markings - HT=heat treated, KD=kiln dried, MB=treated with Methyl Bromide.
 
Mike Jordan":fkyjiupp said:
Thanks Adrian, It’s cheering to hear that the colour system and the relatively high value is helping the situation. It’s the ummarked one trip pallets that seem to offer the “free wood” it looks like rubbish and I’m sure it is. I was horrified to see adverts for items for sale that people might use in the home and even for use in contact with food. YouTube features lots of pallet wood projects together with a few people warning of the risks.
John - Details and pictures of the markings can be found if you Google IPPC.
Click to expand...
Thanks.
 
Many years ago I scrounged some top quality teak veneer (and others) from a firm in Dorset (now gone bust) The veneers were imported into the UK on pallets made of the same material; they were never seen by the general populace! :lol: - Rob
 
I can’t see that the marking system is very relevant once the pallet is broken up since the stamps won’t be visible. I’ve just looked on the Etsy site and found planks being sold at £20 per square metre for “cladding walls”
 
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