What ACQ treated sleepers for community garden?

terry6

Our Community Garden needs to replace the fronts of our compost bays.  We intend to make new fronts by using wooden boards which slot into side channels for easy removal.

We'd like to know if the sleepers available at Forster have been ACQ treated (ie not treated with arsenic).  Thanks very much. 

MitchellMc

@terry6. It's a pleasure to have you join us and many thanks for your questions about sleeper treatments.

Those appear to be the 200 x 50mm 1.2m Treated Pine Sleepers H4 , which are WIP-treated. The treatment process generally uses water-based preservatives that contain inorganic chemicals to protect the timber from decay, fungi, and pests. These preservatives may include copper-based compounds.

Just a FYI, ACQ or Alkaline Copper Quaternary, is also a water-based preservative used to treat timber to protect it from rot, decay, and insect damage. It's a more environmentally friendly alternative to older treatments like CCA (Chromated Copper Arsenate), which contains arsenic.

Neither WIP, Micro-Pro or ACQ-treated sleepers contain arsenic. It's only the CCA sleepers that do.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell