How to Tell If Wood Pallets are Safe for Crafting

20 by Becky Striepe on March 19, 2012

Setting aside the contamination question, there's another safety issue to consider, if you're thinking about crafting with reclaimed wood pallets: fumigated or pressure treated wood.

It sounds innocuous enough, right? But the "pressure" part only gets at part of the treatment process. Manufacturers use pressure to force chemicals like formaldehyde into the wood. The idea is to prevent decay and pest infestation, but you definitely don't want those treated pallets inside your house or touching food. Fumigated wood is treated with pesticides, which also isn't great from a health standpoint.

Pallet crafters, don't despair! There are some ways to tell if your wood is treated or fumigated.

How to Tell If Your Pallets are Treated Wood

Most wood pallets will have an IPPC logo, since they oversee internationally-shipped pallets. Pallets that ship overseas are the ones usually treated or fumigated to prevent the spread of invasive pests. Here are the marks to look out for (they should be near the IPPC logo):

HT - This means the pallet was heat treated, possibly with harmful chemicals.
MB - This indicates that the pallet was fumigated with methyl bromide, a toxic pesticide. Pallet makers are phasing out methyl bromide, but you may still see this mark on some older pallets.

You can also educate yourself to spot pressure treated wood. Head to your local home improvement store and poke around the lumber section. Pressure treated wood looks different from untreated wood, and once you see the difference in color, it should be pretty easy to spot.

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by splorp

Category: DIY | Tags: crafting with pallets, crafty reuse, pallet safety, pallets, pressure treated wood, reuse, wood pallets

About the Author:

Becky Striepe is a green blogger and independent crafter with a passion for vintage fabrics. She runs a crafty business, Glue and Glitter, where her mission is to make green crafting and vegan food accessible to everyone! You can find Becky on Google+.

Follow Becky Striepe on Twitter: @glueandglitter

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lynn

this article is really unclear. the title made me think that i was going to find out ‘how to tell if wood pallets are safe for crafting’. reading the article made me think that there’s not way to really know.

i wonder if there was a strategic typo somewhere?

or if the title should be changed to…’there’s no way to tell whether wood pallets are safe for crafting (or anything)’.

totally excited to get the post. confused after reading it.
Anita

This article is bringing to your attention that all pallets are not created equal. Pressure and heat treated ones could be harmful if used in the house. The two stamps for sure that if you see one of them that you want to use them for outside and not garden with them. Also if they are a green or other color besides aged wood you might not want to put your veggie garden in either of them. Free is good….But just be careful. If your not sure. Line them, fill them with dirt and cut holes in the liner. At least you are controlling what is leaching into the plant. They all should still be used to walk on in the garden or work area, Or other wonderful things made from them for use outside.

http://profiles.google.com/ebaker1982 e baker

What is the proof that they are dangerous? Just because it was treated with a chemical, that does not mean the chemical will become airborne and even if it DID, that the concentration and exposure levels would be of any concern. Your house is FULL of toxic substances, but they are of no danger to you. Where is the PROOF that pallets are harmful?

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Adam-Guy/100003145856815 Adam Guy

Generally no, wood pallets are not safe. I’d want to coat them in plastic OR use plastic pallets…
http://www.pallettruth.com/2012/05/a-wood-pallet-wall-rack-thats-nothing-to-hang-your-hat-on/

Kory Rigler

Yeah, coming from a site that bashes pallets run by PLASTICS.COM- Really? Plastics are loaded with chemicals too. I wish these big lobbies would quit treating people like idiots.
http://profiles.google.com/ebaker1982 e baker

Give me a break. Could a site be more biased? They give no indication of who runs the site, either. A little sketchy.
mowgli

According to that site wooden pallets weight between 70 and 80 pounds…I must be supeman then. They also have 150 nails apparently! These two “facts” are easily proven wrong just by looking at a pallet and lifting it. If information as basic as that is incorrect we can all decide for ourselves about the veracity of the rest.

J. Candal

I think there’s a confusion in this article about the heat treated pallets. Heat treated pallets don’t necessarily have chemicals in them. They are simply put for half an hour under high tempertures. These are the safer ones and are marked with HT. Not the same as pressure treated wood.
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Lilspicy012002

I heard someone saying that they can be use for gardening to, to help cut down on weeds.
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John

There is a lot of misinformation in this article. There are two ways to certify pallets for export – Heat Treatment and Chemically Fumigate. If a pallet is marked with the IPPC HT stamp, it has ONLY been treated with elevated temperature (56C) for at least 30 minutes. The ONLY other ISPM15 option is to use Methyl Bromide, which is marked MB. I would not use MB marked pallets for crafting.

Additionally, most pallets are not marked for export in the US, and therefore are
not treated with Heat or MB. You will find more pallets without stamps than those with stamps. Basically it boils down to cost. It costs a LOT of money to treat pallets, so nearly every domestic pallet is not treated.

As for the formaldahyde you mentioned, that is only in pallets that used composite wood (think particle board). This kind of wood is only used in block pallets (as the block component). Many CHEP pallets (blue painted pallets) are of this type.

The old traditional 4 way pallets (non-block) are completely chemical free (unless marked) and are completely safe to use once you remove the nails.

Moyo Mitchell

Good info, thanks

Featurepainting

I think your article confuses heat treated with an unsafe process. It is internationally shipped pallets that have the IPPC certification and require more treatment. Heat treated pallets are the safest and ones that are found locally or not designed for export. Heat treated pallets are prepared in a water bath brought to a certain temperature.
Scott

These posts are cracking me up. I treat pallets for a living with both HT and MB. There are absolutely no dangers associated with either one of these types. HT is treated with heat only and MB is treated with a “gas” that evaporates from the wood within 30 minutes of aeration. The reason the pallets are treated is to kill disease carrying organisms,…(ie. bugs). These can be bugs that are too small to see with the naked eye. Now, let’s rethink this. Would you rather have a pallet with and HT/MB mark saying all dangerous bugs have been killed, or one without a mark saying it has never been treated for bugs??

Moyo Mitchell

I think that their point is the pallets which are treated with chemicals may maintain some of those chemicals within the wood. If you’re growing food on those pallets, there is a chance that the chemicals may contaminate the soil and therefore the food.

http://profiles.google.com/ebaker1982 e baker

I appreciate the post, but worry there’s more speculation than science. Just because something seems POSSIBLE does not mean it’s PROBABLE and certainly does not mean it’s PROVEN. I see a lot of talk on the internet about how dangerous pallets are because they’re exposed to bird droppings and insects and moisture, which would promote mold or mildew growth, but you know what else fits those warnings…. picnic tables. When those are the criteria, my picnic table is absolutely disgusting. Birds leave their mark constantly, it gets rained on (and the dew sets on it) time and time again, and bugs love it, and yet here I am with my family having a meal a couple times a week, and much of the food we eat there is eaten with our hands that have just touched the table (burgers, fries, corn on the cob, etc.). So, my point is, are there studies PROVING the danger of pallets, or is it all just speculation? Pseudoscience can be pretty convincing, but show me the facts. And being an engineer, if there ARE facts, I WILL listen to them.
nick s

hi, i am nick @92bc766173c92f559909f906bd32a3bc:disqus There is ALOT of misinformation in this article. Heat treating wood or pallets don’t use chemicals in the process. IPPC stamped pallets are heat treated no usage chemical here correct. Wood Pallets with no stamp are good to reuse, no chemicals use here correct. You will find more pallets without stamps than those with stamps correct. Basically it boils down to cost correct. It costs a LOT of money to treat pallets, so nearly every domestic pallet is not treated. Chemically Fumigate Methyl Bromide, which is marked MB correct. I would not use MB marked pallets for anything. Formaldehyde to the best of my knowledge is in import plywood and imported wood furniture or panel product not just pallets? Scott is correct, These posts are cracking me up. I treat pallets for a living with both HT and MB. There are absolutely no dangers associated with either one of these types. HT is treated with heat only and MB is treated with a “gas” that evaporates from the wood within 30 minutes of aeration. The reason the pallets are treated is to kill disease carrying organisms,…(ie. bugs). These can be bugs that are too small to see with the naked eye. Now, let’s rethink this. Would you rather have a pallet with and HT/MB mark saying all dangerous bugs have been killed, or one without a mark saying it has never been treated for bugs?? Pressure treated chemical’s here is used daily in home owners decks and some people use it for picnic table BUT NOT ME. i am Atlas Wood Products a industrial wood provider in phila, pa contact 215-PALLET4