IRG Newsletter 0406

04/2006 31 August

Member News

Ron Cockcroft Award 2007
For those who intend to apply for a RCA to attend IRG 38 in the USA it is now time to start preparing the application. Please note that the deadline is 15 December 2006. Applications received after that date will not be considered.
Read Conditions for the Ron Cockcroft Award

Regulatory News

New Zealand: Timber treatment issues not resolved yet
Standards New Zealand published an amendment to NZS 3640 (Chemical Preservation of Round and Sawn Timber).
(From Friday Offcuts – 25 August 2006.
Read more here

Australia: EPR impacts on future timber treatment operations
The issue is a waste issue. There is growing concern internationally about handling treated and contaminated timber in the wood waste chain.
(From Friday Offcuts – 4 August 2006.
Read more here

Europe: A never ending story? Chromium - active substance or fixative - the current situation
At the EU Competent Authorities (CA) meeting on 10 and 11 April 2006, the question of whether chromium is an active ingredient in wood preservatives was referred back to the competent authorities at national level. Each Member State has to decide on product level wether Chromium is an active or not in a particular product based on efficacy data.
Only a few of approval holders of Chromium based products have presented data to the CAs to show, that Chromium is not an active ingredient in their products. The current situation in the Member states is as follows:
Germany:
Approval holders of Chromium based products have presented data to the German CA. The German Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin (BAuA) has decided that Chromium is not an active in these products and the products will stay in the market beyond September, 1st 2006. Due to the late decision on the experimental design their is a slight difference in the test design to the publication of the CA´s. Therefore BAuA wants the producers to provide an additional test fully accordant with the CA design until June, 30th 2007. They have not delayed their decision.
UK:
None of the approval holders has presented data showing that Chromium is not an active in their products. So these products must be withdrawn by September, 1st 2006. (See IRG News in Brief 03/2006
Belgium:
The authorities have requested the approval holders to extend the validity of their approvals beyond September, 1st by providing data showing that Chromium is not an active in their products. Producers showing that for their products will keep their approvals. An 18-month´s regulation applies for all other products. This regulation should be not in accordance to the BPD and the Belgium legislation.
Other Member States:
Data evaluation is not finished yet and decissions are pending in the current situation. Decissions similar to the German solution are probable.

Business News

New Zealand: Chemical company fined by Commerce Commission
The chemicals involved in this proceeding are Chrome Copper Arsenate and Light Organic Solvent Preservative.
(From Friday Offcuts – 25 August 2006.
Read more here

China: Growing timber treatment in China
According to the National Preservative Treated Lumber Committee, the preservative lumber market in China is growing.
(From Friday Offcuts – 18 August 2006.
Read more here

Korea: Korean lumber treaters cease CCA treatment
The member companies of the Korea Wood Preservation Association will cease using CCA (copper, chromium and arsenic) for wood treatment from 2007 and move to arsenic-free chemicals such as ACQ, CB-HDO and CuAz.
(From Friday Offcuts – 11 August 2006.
Read more here

New Zealand: Kop-Coat moves to restore confidence in Boron treatment
Kop-Coat, a major supplier of Boron-based timber preservation products, is committed to building confidence in wood, and for that reason, is taking legal action against industry consultant Dr Robin Wakeling.
(From Friday Offcuts – 14 July 2006.)
Read more here

New Zealand: Leaky NZ Buildings - a potential NZ$13 million repair bill
If all affected "leaky buildings" in New Zealand were properly repaired today, Phil O'Sullivan of Prendos Ltd estimates that the cost for houses built between 1986 and 1996 with treated timber, could be in the order of NZ$3 billion. For houses built between 1997 and 2003, which are largely comprised of untreated timber, the cost could well be in the order of NZ$9 billion to repair. These are substantial sums. In this estimate, commercial buildings have not been included, nor have professional or legal fees.
The damage to the timber industry as a consequence of "leaky buildings" has been considerable. There has been a significant loss of share in the multi-unit residential market with many of these buildings now using reinforced concrete. There has also been some loss of share in the commercial market, but this is not as pronounced. However there appears to be no significant change in the traditional housing market.
(From Friday Offcuts – 07 July 2006.)

Australia: Treated timber DNA traceability
Australia has seen a spurt of changes in the timber sector recently. One company Dindas as well as changing its name and company brand, has implemented a process called Dindas Australia Treatment Trace (DATT). Along with its chemical suppliers Koppers Arch, Dindas has added a particular trace product to the treatment chemicals, meaning any piece of timber treated at its LOSP plant can be traced in the future. This will enable Dindas to accept accountability for every stick of timber it treats and, with warranty claims, will enable them to identify their timber in cases of multiple suppliers. Source: NZT&E, 29 June 2006.
(From Friday Offcuts – 14 July 2006.)

Situations Vacant:

Canada: Ph.D Candidate wanted in Wood Science
Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate to undertake a project on whole tree main stem wood properties (mechanical and physical) as affected by stand conditions. The research is part of a larger collaborative project funded by the Forestry Futures Trust Enhanced Forest Productivity Science Program. The project aims to map tree properties to allow better utilization and maximize potential value-added products.

Scientific News

USA: Micronizing of additives for wood treatment
Michigan Technological University scientists are using nanotechnology for wood treatment. Pat Heiden, a chemistry professor, and Peter Laks, a professor in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, have discovered a way to embed these organic compounds in plastic beads only about 100 nanometers across. "Six hundred of them in a row would be about the width of a human hair," Laks says.
Suspended in water, the beads are small enough to travel through the wood when it is placed under pressure. "Wood has a very fine, sieve-like structure," Laks said. "You need particles small enough to fit through those very small channels."
The beads go right to the heart of the wood and stay there, protecting it from decay. The technology has been licensed to the New Jersey-based company Phibro-Tech, which supplies chemicals to the wood preservation industry.
"This is an emerging area," said Jim Baker, Michigan Tech's director of technology partnerships. "It's nanotechnology being applied in a traditional industry that has used technology for some time but which isn't thought of as being high tech." The technology may be tiny, but the advantages could be huge. "It allows the industry to use more environmentally friendly biocides," Baker said.
"In addition, nanoparticles reduce leaching, which will help protect the environment from whatever preservatives are used." And, it could allow the industry to use even more benign chemicals, such as borax, which are effective but too easily washed out of wood when it gets wet.
US Patent extract
Marcia Goodrich, Peter Laks, Michigan Tech media relations

Europe: Project news from Cordis
New ways of protecting wood against decay. Archaeology and preservation of historical artefacts and buildings does not deal solely with stoneware but also wooden structures.
Read more here

People in the News

IRG Secretariat News

IRG 37 in Tromsø, Norway

Some impressions taken at the Tromsø Conference. Author: Dirk Häntzschel at Dr Wolman, DE

Click the thumbnails to enlarge.

Late and corrected IRG 37 documents
A few late and corrected documents can now be found on the IRG website.

Late Plenary report from IRG 37 in Tromsø
The Plenary report (IRG/WP 06-60228) as well as budgets for 2006 (IRG/WP 06-60219) and 2007 (IRG/WP 06-60220) are attached for your information.

IRG 38 reminder
Please mark 20-24 May 2007 in your diary for the 38th Annual Meeting of IRG in Jackson, Wyoming, USA.
As potential themes for special sessions at the next meeting, the following were discussed in the Scientific Programme Committee (SPC) in Tromsø:

Coatings
Coatings and aesthetics
Quality control for non-biocidal treatments
Review of promotional activities
Prediction of Service Life
Life Cycle Analysis of treated wood and competing materials

Members interested in those themes and ready to present papers are advised to contact Dr Gérard Deroubaix, chairman of the SPC.
Please note that the deadline for contributions of full papers and poster abstracts is 15 March 2007.

The Compendium updates
The web-based Compendium is now updated with all documents issued for the 37th Annual Meeting in Tromsø.
Please note that log in information to the Compendium has been e-mailed to all fully paid-up members and sponsors. Click on "Search an IRG document" on the IRG website and then on "Sign in".
Please report any difficulties you may have to get access to the Compendium.

Sponsor the IRG e-Newsletter!
IRG regular sponsors and members' institutes are kindly invited to sponsor the production of the IRG e-Newsletter in order to cover the costs involved for production of the same.
The IRG e-Newsletter is scheduled for six issues per year, and for each issue a sponsor is welcome. The fee for sponsoring the e-Newsletter is USD 275 (SEK 2.100) in 2006. The e-Newsletter sponsor will then get the company/institute logo on the front page and a link to the company/institute website.
For sponsoring the fourth 2006 issue of the e-Newsletter, Arch Timber Protection Ltd is kindly acknowledged. Please contact the IRG Secretariat, if you are interested in sponsoring the e-Newsletter.

Legal Information
Read legal information here

Editorial
If you have information related to wood protection being of general interest for Regular Members, Student Members or IRG Sponsors, please email to the NiB editor with the name of the web page and the URL.