Preservative treated wood provides excellent long-term performance under a variety of adverse conditions, but it must eventually be replaced. The US Environmental Protection Agency recommends reuse in a similar application, but if that is not an option, disposal in a municipal solid waste facility equipped with a leachate management system. Concerns about diminishing landfill capacity have led many communities to establish wood waste collection programs to divert wood and extend landfill life. Unfortunately, treated wood often ends up in these collections, creating the potential for contamination of the resulting recycling stream. This issue was a major concern in Florida, which uses large amounts of treated wood, but there are fewer data on the amounts of treated wood entering recycling streams in other states. This document updates a long-term monitoring project of treated wood entering a recycling facility in Western Oregon.

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