IRG Documents Database and Compendium


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Proposal for further work on environmental questions
1988 - IRG/WP 3494
Although very much is known about the environmental and health and safety aspects on various wood preservatives and treated wood knowledge is still lacking on some important issues. Some examples are: - The fate of wood preservatives in the environment, eg by leaching from treated wood and contaminated soil; - How big is the "problem" of pollution, etc from the wood preserving industry in comparis...
J Jermer, M-L Edlund


Environmental exposure to wood preservatives
2000 - IRG/WP 00-50165
The OECD Working Group on Pesticides will hold a workshop on Assessing Environmental Exposure to Wood Preservatives within the context of its Biocides Programme (cf. IRG/WP 99-20182). In the area of risk assessment, OECD countries have given highest priority to developing guidance on how exposure assessments for biocides should be performed. Wood preservatives have been selected since most countri...
R-D Peek


Environmental risk assessment of preservative treated wood
1998 - IRG/WP 98-50101-19
This paper reviews the status of the environmental risk assessment of preservative treated wood and confirms the distinction between the risks presented by wood preservatives and preservative treated wood. The paper proposes a tiered approach to risk assessment and discusses the rationale. Flowcharts are presented which summarise the tiered approach to risk assessment, show the tests required, and...
E F Baines, S J Davis


Life cycle analysis: Assessing environmental impact
1994 - IRG/WP 94-50034
Environmental impact assesment is a major issue that faces every nation today. However, consistently and objectively measuring the environmental impact is difficult. During the past two decades, a process called life cycle analysis was developed that tried to make consistent and objective environmental assessments. The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry broadened the concept to not ...
S L LeVan


Environmental behaviour of treated wood in (semi-)permanent contact with fresh or seawater
1998 - IRG/WP 98-50101-20
This study presents a strategy for the environmental toxicity evaluation of treated wood towards the aquatic compartment, using non target water organisms toxicity tests. A lixiviation process is applied on wood (Pinus sylvestris) treated with several wood preservatives formulations. The lixiviation process is carried out in the laboratory with ultrapure water or synthetic seawater. After chemica...
P Marchal, C Martin


Wood preservation in Kenya
2000 - IRG/WP 00-40191
Current research on wood preservation in Kenya is mainly on the development of biological control of wood-destroying termite species, using mycoinsecticides. The major research institutions include the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), Moi University and the International Centre for Insect Physiology (ICIPE). Training institutions include Fore...
G Ochiel


Less environmental impact of wood preservatives by considering the risk of attack in addition to the hazard class system
1995 - IRG/WP 95-50040-10
Hazard classes, which are standardized in Europe in EN 335, are most useful to direct chemical wood preservation towards the organisms which may attack wood in the various fields of utilisation. However, hazard only signifies the fact that an attack may occur without considering the actual risk to attack. To minimize the application of chemicals with respect of less environmental impact it is nece...
H Willeitner


Life cycle analysis of utility poles. A Swiss case study
1995 - IRG/WP 95-50040-05
Use of preservative-treated wood products faces increasing public and political pressure because of environmental concerns regarding the chemicals used to protect the wood. However, critics usually focus only on one single aspect of the whole life cycle of treated wood products, disregarding other environmental effects of timber utilization. To evaluate the ecological consequences of wooden utilit...
T Künniger, K Richter


Safer alternative reagents for colour differentiation of heartwood and sapwood
1994 - IRG/WP 94-20028
Benzidine and dimethyl yellow reagents have been used for distinguishing heartwood from sapwood in the Pinaceae and Araucariacae families, and in Eucalypt species. Both have been classified as carcinogenic by European and United States authoritites, yet the need for effective heartwood/sapwood differentiation remains, not only in the laboratory but also out in the timber processing chain. Safer al...
A Zosars, M J Kennedy


Examining environmental conditions and the biodeterioration of historic waterlogged wood: the Kolding Cog
2002 - IRG/WP 02-10441
Survival of waterlogged wood from thousands and in rare cases millions of years presents scientists with a unique opportunity to examine wood specimens which, due to select properties of the wood itself and/or the depositional environment, have not been completely degraded. This paper discusses the biodeterioration of a submerged shipwreck buried in Kolding Fjord, Denmark for the past 1000 years....
B A Jordan, D J Gregory, E L Schmidt


Comparative environmental impact analysis of telecommunication utility poles: Treated wood and fibreglass
1999 - IRG/WP 99-50136
This study is aimed at providing the information necessary to assess the main environmental implications of different materials utilised in construction of utility poles. The study was performed on fibreglass and CCA treated poles timber. The work has been carried out by identifying and quantifying energy and materials used and wasted released during the entire life of the pole. The interactions w...
A Cugliandolo, M Onofrio, A Quaglino


The volatilization of arsenic on burning copper-chrome-arsenic (CCA) treated wood
1978 - IRG/WP 3111
Small scale burning experiments are described involving copper-chrome-arsenic treated wood. Approximately 20 per cent of the arsenic was volatilised when the wood was burned in air but 60 per cent when burned in an oxygen-enriched atmosphere, this increase is attributed to an increase in combustion temperature. Although a small increase in arsenic evolution was found with an increased concentratio...
A-J Dobbs, C Grant


Health hazards and environmental aspects when using Cu-HDO-containing wood preservatives in vacuum pressure plants
1993 - IRG/WP 93-50001-11
Apart from the biological efficacy of wood preservatives, the health and environmental aspects concerning the utilisation of wood preservatives, the use of treated timber and the disposal of impregnated wood are of high significance today. Therefore, information on a possible aerial concentration of wood preservatives, on the mobility of active substances in soil leached from treated timber in ser...
W Hettler, S Breyne, M Maier


The use of a physical field model to study the effects of remedially treated timber on the growth of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and rye (Secale cereale), and the accumulation of toxic preservative constituents in Lolium perenne
1995 - IRG/WP 95-50040-02
Low cost laboratory model systems can be used to give relatively rapid indications of the environmental effects of preservative treated timber in soil contact. This paper details the effects of remedially treated timber on the growth of crops of Lolium perenne and Secale cereale seeded on soilbeds of different texture in close proximity to remedially treated creosoted pole sections. Lolium perenne...
D C R Sinclair, G M Smith, A Bruce, H J Staines


The dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans, its growth and damaging of wood
2004 - IRG/WP 04-10511
The dry rot fungus (Serpula lacrymans) is one of the most dangerous wood rotting fungi, especially in the built environment. In our mycological laboratory more experiments with this fungus have been carried out aimed at:- its growth under stable and variable climatic conditions, - its possibility to attack either natural wood of different species and also modified wood primary pre-treated with ...
L Reinprecht


Practicability of bioassays in the evaluation of environmental risks in wood protection
1996 - IRG/WP 96-50071
As an example for the proofing of the practicability of bioassays in the evaluation of environmental risks in wood protection the ecotoxicological behaviour of CCF-impregnated timber was examined. After vacuum pressure impregnation specimen from shaped pine poles were tested on ecotoxicological effects of leachable compounds using sensitive aquatic organisms like fish, Daphnia and algae as bioindi...
H-W Wegen


Rapid analytical methods for wood waste - An overview
1998 - IRG/WP 98-50104
The proper handling of wood after service is a today's problem. Untreated wood could be reused or may be used as fuel. For treated wood special care is demanded to avoid environmental impacts. Thus, analytical methods are requested to detect rapidly whether and to what extend wood is contaminated, covering a wide spectrum of organic and inorganic agents used during the last 50 years. Trad...
A Peylo, R-D Peek


An environmental assessment of timber treatment plants in Australia
1999 - IRG/WP 99-50124
Australian Standard AS 2843 Timber Preservation Plant Safety Code, sets the specifications for the design and operation of timber treatment plants in Australia. The Timber Preservers' Association of Australia has carried out an environmental survey of timber treatment plants throughout Australia using the operational checklist provided in Appendix C of Part 2 of the Standard. Third party ...
J Norton, K Riley


Environmental situation on wood preservation industries in Bangladesh
2000 - IRG/WP 00-50148
The hazard that wood preservative chemicals pose to people and the environment is serious. The lack of information, legislation and awareness create an unfavorable situation on wood preservation industries. In this regard, three wood preservation industries have been visited to collect the information about pollution. It was observed that different steps have been taken to minimize the contaminati...
K Akhter


Kiln drying of CCA-treated wood - Some safety and environmental considerations
1987 - IRG/WP 3443
Vapours and condensate from a condenser kiln in which CCA-treated wood was being dried have been collected and analysed. The concentrations of arsenic, copper and chromium found in the vapours from the drying process were well below Swedish threshold limit values. The contents of arsenic and chromium were also low in the condensate, although the copper content was fairly high. The latter result wa...
J Jermer, B Lundberg


Assessment of dehydrogenase activity, fluoride content and total chromium content of soil profiles exposed to preservative treated wood within a model system
1993 - IRG/WP 93-10015
The development and prospective use of a closed model system to facilitate study of a number of indicators of environmental impact of wood preservatives laboratory conditions has been described (IRG/WP/2395-92). Chemical analysis of leachate samples collected from drained soil profiles containing creosoted pole sections remedially treated with a chromated fluoride preservative indicated small incr...
G M Smith, D C R Sinclair, A Bruce, H J Staines


Life-cycle assessement of treated wood: A view from the roa
1996 - IRG/WP 96-50078
Life Cycle Assessement (LCA) is being used increasingly as a tool to structure information on the environmental characteristics of material and processes. This paper is based on the experience gained from our LCA studies on treated wood products over the last 4 years. The comprehensive and logical examination af the information available on treated timber provided by LCA has allowed identification...
W Hillier, R J Murphy, D J Dickinson, J N B Bell


Environmental risk assessment of treated timber in service: The Environment Focus Group approach
2000 - IRG/WP 00-50162
In the context of the Biocidal Products Directive (98/8/EC), and of the OECD work on wood preservatives, the Environment Focus Group (EFG), comprising 8 institutes and the European Wood Preservative Manufacturers Group, has been working on the environmental risk assessment of treated timber in service. A literature review of emissions from treated timber has revealed that very little existing data...
G Deroubaix, G Labat, I Le Bayon, S Legay, P Marchal, C Yrieix, E Melcher, R-D Peek, S De Geyter, J Van Acker, W J Homan, D J Dickinson, R J Murphy, E D Suttie, A J Nurmi, A-C Ritschkoff, D Rudolph, I Stephan, D Aston, E F Baines, J B Simonin


Initial results and observations of a model system to assess the efficacy and environmetal impact of preservative treated wood
1993 - IRG/WP 93-50001-02
The development of a closed model system for the laboratory assessment of the efficacy and environmental impact of a chromated fluoride remedial treatment for creosoted distribution poles has been described (IRG/WP/2395-92). The model consists of a precipitation apparatus above a treated pole section positioned in a soil profile from which leachate was collected via a series of simulated field dra...
D C R Sinclair, G M Smith, A Bruce, H J Staines


The environmental chemistry of chromium: Science vs. U.S. law
1993 - IRG/WP 93-50014
The cooperation which existed among chromium chemical producers, industrial health laboratories, and governmet agencies was destroyed after 1970 by the advent of environmental activism and regulatory legislation. As prewar plants had been found to pose a serious cancer risk, this fact was the basis of EPA regulations, especially during the term of Joe Califano in HEW under Jimmy Carter. However, a...
W H Hartford


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