Tleaters To Phase Out GCA

The nation's largest wood preservative manufacturers have voluntarily agreed to phase out CCA for treating non-industrial wood products by the end of next year.

By January 2004, the EPA will no longer permit the popular preservative for residential uses, including decks, fences, landscape timbers, picnic tables and play structures.

Congressmen in California and Florida have introduced bills to make the CCA ban immediate.

CCA will be allowed for industrial uses, such as utility poles, pilings and guardrails.

The industry still stands behind the safety of CSI, but has been bombarded of late by unfavorable media reports and lawsuits. A voluntary withdrawal allows the industry and the EPA to attribute the transition to increasing demand for new wood preservatives. The top chemical producers all offer arsenate-free alterna-

Treater Adds ACQ, Borates

Coos Head Forest Products, Coos Bay, Or., has begun manufacturing and marketing ACQ tives-CSI's ACQ Preserve, Arch Wood Protec-tion's Wolmanized Natural Select, and Osmose's new Nature Wood.

Preserve and TimberSaver PT preserved wood products.

Ron McCormick, v.p. of sales and marketing, explains, "The addition of ACQ Preserve and TimberSaver PT falls in line with our commitment to offer our customers the latest advances in preserved wo,od products. ACQ Preserve and TimberSaver PT are both non-arsenical based, and have a track record that is proven in a wide variety of applications and environments worldwide."

ACQ Preserve is a proven nonarsenical preservative for preserved wood products used in both interior and exterior environments above ground, in ground contact and in fresh water immersion applications. TimberSaver PT is an environmentally advanced, borate-based formulation utilized for interior wood applications such as sill plates and house framing.

Coos Head will market TimberSaver PT as DuraBor in Hawaii and DuraSill in the mainland U.S.

The EPA continues studying CCA, but so far has not identified any "unreasonable risks" to the public.

The transition certainly will change the face of the $4 billion-ayear treating industry, as the nation's approximately 350 CCA treaters begin switching to new preservatives. Conversion costs-including engi- neering, permitting, cleanup, installation of stainless steel valves and pumps, and downtime-could total more than $100,000. Yet many treaters have already made or begun the switch.

Some retailers also intend to phase out CCA products early. anticipating the impending ban gives them a "black mark." Home Depot vowed to "stop selling CCA-treated wood well in advance of the EPA deadline." but offered no specifics.