Disposal of preservative-treated waste wood is a growing problem worldwide. Bioprocessing the treated wood offers one approach to waste management under certain conditions. One goal is to use wood decay fungi to reduce the volume of waste with an easily managed system in a cost-effective manner. Wood decay fungi were obtained from culture collections in the Mycology Center and Biodeterioration research unit at the USDA-FS Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), Madison, Wisconsin, and from FPL field sites. The 95 isolates had originally been taken from at least 66 sites from around the United States. Isolates were screened in a bioassay (known as the 'choice test') for tolerance to CCA, ACQ, creosote and pentachlorophenol. A tolerant rating was based on fungal growth toward or on treated wood, with 17 tolerant to CCA, 21 to ACQ, 12 to creosote and 5 to pentachlorophenol. Decay capacity of the tolerant isolates was determined as percent weight loss by the ASTM D-1413-76 soil bottle method. We identified 8 isolates for experiments on preservative remediation. Isolates of Meruliporia incrassata and Antrodia radiculosa gave the highest percent degradation of ACQ and CCA-treated wood. Several A. radiculosa isolates and a Neolentinus lepideus isolate grew on creosote-treated wood, but had only a 4-5% weight loss. In this paper we discuss the potential use of decay fungi to degrade or remediate preservative-treated wood.

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