EWC code for wood
Clean wood offcuts are coded 17 02 01 and are non-hazardous. But wood is a mirror entry: treated timber with dangerous preservatives is hazardous. Which code you use depends on what is in the wood.
Wood (clean, untreated)
Clean wood is non-hazardous
Plain, untreated wood is non-hazardous. The code depends on where it comes from:
- 17 02 01 wood from construction and demolition
- 20 01 38 wood in the municipal stream, such as old furniture and pallets
- 03 01 05 clean sawdust, shavings and offcuts from working wood
For these a waste transfer note with a registered carrier is enough, and the wood usually goes for chipping, board manufacture or biomass.
Treated wood is a mirror entry
Wood is a classic mirror entry: the same material has a non-hazardous and a hazardous version, and which applies depends on what the wood contains. Timber treated with dangerous preservatives flips to hazardous:
- 17 02 04* wood containing or contaminated with dangerous substances, for example creosoted sleepers, fence posts treated with copper-chrome-arsenic, or wood from a contaminated site.
Hazardous treated wood needs a hazardous waste consignment note and a licensed receiving site, not a transfer note.
Watch out: old railway sleepers, telegraph poles and some decking are treated with creosote, which is a dangerous substance. Do not send them as clean 17 02 01 wood.