Upcycled pallets and repurposed pallet crafts can carry hidden dangers. While re-using waste materials is an excellent step toward sustainability, one must still be sure to do their research before repurposing industrial materials.
For months – probably over a year – my Pinterest feed has been flooded with upcycled pallet and window projects. People are making everything out of these industrial cast-offs, from rugged compost bins to super modern pallet furniture. I didn’t pay too much attention to this trend given that we have more furniture than we need at this point, but I did find myself wondering who the heck has that many pallets lying around? (or old but undamaged windows, for that matter?)
I envisioned people sneaking into construction sites and abandoned warehouses in the dark of the night and heaving dirty pallets into pick-up trucks. For some people, I was probably correct. Others, I’ve found actually go out and purchase pallets – which isn’t necessarily upcycling, and IS, in many cases just greenwashing. Sustainability posers. Go figure.
And the source of the pallets matters. Aside from how moronic it is to fake sustainability, there are real dangers to be considered.
Pallets used for shipping are routinely treated with extremely toxic chemicals which can linger in the wood and take EXTENSIVE remediation to eliminate. The USDA requires pest treatments on pallets, which often includes the use of Methyl Bromide – an incredibly toxic pesticide that my fellow Tomatoland readers will be familiar with. Methyl Bromide is illegal in much of Europe and banned or very seriously restricted in several US states. It can be lethal to humans and is known to cause severe birth defects. (Seriously, read Tomatoland).
Further, pallets that have been sitting – in warehouses, ditches, and abandoned buildings are likely to harbor mold, rodent-born diseases, fungi, and other such unpleasantness. The National Consumers League, after discovering E. coli and Listeria on shipping pallets has called on the FDA to begin paying attention to the spread of pathogens by pallets. There was even a Tylenol recall related to fumes on the bottles causing headaches, nausea, and vomiting believed to stem from a chemical fungicide present on the shipping pallets.
And I may as well add that if you happen to hunt down some authentic old windows that are in good condition, you’re probably dealing with lead paint.
Safe Pallet Projects
Organic Authority recommends limiting your pallet crafts to the outdoor arena (vertical garden, anyone?) and Apartment Therapy suggests seeking out refurbished (*cough* cheating *cough*) or heat-treated pallets (stamped with HT) for your crafts.
For now, though, I don’t think I’m going to risk it. MacGyver has enough scrap wood to reconstruct the Titanic, anyway.
Wow. I’m one of the dummies that would never have thought anything of those pallets being treated with toxic chemicals!
We only have on pallet project on the books right now. We plan on doing out backsplash with them. (found here http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/before-after-60-164022). However we are lucky enough that the pallets they get at hubbys work are usually brand new and they are heat treated and come from canada (apparently the safest supplier). Though honestly at this point after all the work on our house I don’t think I will need them. I think instead I am just going rough up the scrap we have with sand paper and beat it with a chain and hammer to roughen them up. Its probably a safer bet. Great Post I don’t think people realize the dangers.
Canada is the best source of everything! (just a little birth-country plug)
I look forward to seeing how it turns out. I haven’t visited any blogs in a while, but hope to get back to it once we’re settled in the house – whenever that is. We also have a butt-load of renovations to do. Most of them are simple – painting and whatnot – but we are doing at least one thing to nearly every room and MacGyver really wants to knock down a wall.
As for the safety issues, I agree with you. Many people are just completely unaware that there is potential danger. Good to get the information out there.
Is there a way to “treat” the pallet on your own? Or is there a website that tells you what to look for to determine if a pallet has been contaminated with something?
A friend who was interested in doing a pallet project for her living room said she had read about how to mitigate pallets but that it was so much work it wasn’t worth the effort to her. Heat treated pallets are supposedly becoming more common. The few I found hanging around Eastern Market were heat treated, which is supposed to remove the chemical concern but you still have to deal with whatever the pallet has picked up over it’s (usually quite long) life. The problem is that the wood is raw and very porous, so it can pick up a lot.
If you’re looking to rehab some pallets, I would start with the link to Organic Authority in the post.