Everything you need to know about recycling untreated timber

Recycling Untreated Timber includes:
Wood - Untreated

Learn more about recycling timber

How to recycle timber

Post-consumer wood or timber can be recycled if it is not contaminated. It should be kept separate from painted, coated and preservative treated wood or timber materials. Industrial timber waste comprises of timber waste from the commercial and industrial sectors including the transport sector, building trade suppliers, ship building, cabinet making, and construction and demolition companies.

Wood and timber with the following contaminants cannot be recycled:

• Nails, metal connectors, plastic wrapping, dirt and sand
• Paint, oil and other coatings, laminates, edge bandings, glues and resins
• Plywood, medium density fibreboard (MDF)
• Timber treated with Copper Chrome Arsenate (CCA) preservative (this is the most commonly used preservative, however other types may be acceptable)
• Other wastes (e.g. garbage, building rubble) within the same load

There are a variety of preservatives used in Australia for treating timber which are impregnated into the timber. Humans and the environment can be put at risk if exposed to these chemicals at high enough levels and environmental problems can occur if treated timber is burned without appropriate emission control equipment.

Although treatment increases its durability, the options for recycling treated timber are limited. It is therefore expected that the quantity of treated timber going to landfill will grow steadily.

 

Why recycle?

Timber is a valuable resource that is repairable, renewable and can be diverted from landfill. It takes significantly less energy to convert timber into pallets and packaging than it does to convert plastic and metal. In most cases, timber also requires less energy and resources to transport than plastic and metal.

 

What happens to it?

Once the wood has served its initial purpose it can be sent to a recycling centre and processed into reusable woodchip.

• Recycled wood/timber (excluding treated timber) is processed into mulch, animal bedding and new particleboard
• Some timber, including treated wood, can be reused in pallets as well as in building and landscaping
• Good quality untreated timber can be reused in furniture making
• Wood/timber that is not reused, recycled or processed into renewable fuel is disposed to landfill