Wood Quarantine to Have Limited Impact on C&D Recyclers

In order to prevent the spread of a tree-killing pest, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has quarantined wood products in Illinois and Indiana.

The ban restricts the movement of lumber, logs, wood chips and firewood across state lines unless the material has been treated to remove the emerald ash borer.

The ban has the potential to be devastating to those states’ C&D recyclers as most of the wood market is for boiler fuel in Wisconsin and Michigan. However, C&D recyclers in Illinois say that it will not have much effect on them, despite the requirement that any wood that crosses state lines must have been treated to protect against the borer, which kills any tree it infests and has been in a few spots in the two states.

The reason for the lack of concern is that C&D wood is kiln dried and not from trees, and that any company making mulch that also accepts trees is grinding the material down to a 1-inch minus size.