How should I dispose of treated wood or manufactured boards?

Question

Are off cuts of pressure treated wood for internal use or manufactured board such as loft boarding safe to dispose of in a domestic garden fire pit (not for cooking)?

I have a large amount of off cuts after boarding my loft and doing various other jobs, so its either burn it or take it to the tip and burn something else...

Info I should have added originally, so apologies - this is the UK where restrictions on what you can do on your own property are a lot loss. I can burn this stuff in my garden fire pit or chimney for example, Im wondering if its safe to do so though.

Answer 1

When it burns, treated wood emits all sort of nasty chemicals that it was treated, such as trivalent chromium, copper sulfate, and arsenic. Not good stuff to breathe or pump into the air. If you can't find a way to use the leftover wood, the most responsible thing is to just take it to the dump. At least they'll have waste and runoff containment systems.

Answer 2

In the US, from the EPA:

If you must dispose treated wood, follow these recommendations:

• State statute prohibits open burning of treated lumber. Typically, open burning of any kind can only occur at town transfer stations, by permit, involving only clean (untreated) wood and brush. Other limited open burning situations can occur at other sites, but only under a permit from local authorities, and typically only for clean wood and brush, not treated lumber.

• Treated wood of all types can be most responsibly disposed of as follows: Homeowners engaged in small projects should take treated wood to their local landfill or transfer station and place it in the designated location (i.e., the non-clean wood pile). Contractors, utilities, and manufacturers should contract directly with a DEEP permitted bulky waste landfill, or send it to an out-of state wood burner facility appropriately equipped and permitted to burn treated wood.

• Sawdust, chips, and small wood scraps should never be composted. Treat these items as stated above.

Answer 3

Check your town ordinances. Some towns insist it always be treated as construction waste so they can process it separately; others will let you toss small amounts in the trash (recognizing that homeowners are gonna be a bit sloppy) but over a few pounds needs to be sequestered; it's possible some are still ignoring the issue and just landfilling anything that isn't alive. (Insert gangsterjoke here.)

"Ask the local authority having jurisdiction" is the answer to many home improvement questions.

Answer 4

I would not burn pressure treated wood, the smoke would be toxic.

You're supposed to just throw it out with regular garbage. As far as I know recyclers don't want it.