Management of treated wood waste in Canada - Technical and regulatory solutions

IRG/WP 01-50166-15

B Munson

A major problem facing the wood preservation industry in Canada is the management of wastes. This refers to wastes generated during the treatment process as well as waste treated wood that is removed from service. The volume of oil borne preservative treated industrial products to be removed from service in Canada over the next 20 years is expected to be fairly constant at approximately 350,000 to 400,000 cubic metres (m3) per year. On the other hand CCA treated removals will increase from 112,000 m3 in the year 2000 to approximately 480,000 m3 in 2020. Current management practices for industrial product removals are reuse, recycling as wood and fibre, energy recovery in industrial combustion systems and land filling. The expected increase in the volume of waste CCA-treated industrial material represents a major disposal challenge. The volume of CCA treated consumer products to be removed from service over the next 20 years is expected to increase dramatically from approximately 75,000 m3 in the year 2000 to in excess of 1 million m3 in 2020. At present, the only practical disposal methods for this material are land filling and limited reuse. For the foreseeable future, management practices such as reuse, recycling and energy recovery in industrial combustion systems such as large power boilers and cement kilns, appear to be practical and economically feasible for oil borne preservative-treated products. Furthermore, the owners of these products are motivated to pursue responsible disposal methods in order to avoid the increasing cost of land filling. In the case of CCA-treated consumer products, the waste material is widely distributed in residential areas. Individual homeowners have no commitment to responsible disposal and in fact, in many cases, may not even be aware that they have CCA-treated wood on their property. The identification, collection, storage and disposal of this material represent major problems due to the growth in volume that is forecasted. This paper presents the current situation that the wood preservation sector is facing in Canada with respect to the management of wastes and discusses both the technical and regulatory options that are being explored and implemented.


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Conference: 01-05-06/02 Cannes-Mandelieu, France


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