Pressure treated wood products contain heavy metals to prevent biological decay. Scrap treated wood from construction activities and demolished structures containing treated wood are typically disposed in landfills. To examine the potential mobility of metals from pressure-treated wood disposed in landfills, wood samples were leached using leachate from lined landfills and the concentrations of arsenic, chromium and copper were measured. Samples evaluated included unweathered and weathered chromated copper arsenate (CCA) treated wood samples and arsenic- and chromium-free pressured-treated wood products. Results showed that in general the arsenic and chromium concentrations leached using the landfill leachate samples varied somewhat among the sites, but tended to be similar or somewhat lower than the TCLP and SPLP concentrations. Copper leaching was greatest when extracted with the landfill leachate for CCA-treated wood. Among the alternatives to CCA-treated wood, copper leaching was more in the TCLP for some of the alternatives while landfill leachate extracts had higher copper concentrations in others.

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