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My understanding is that wood isn’t only pressure treated, but also soaked in chemicals that bugs and decomposers don’t like to eat.
by jagged-chisel 1y ago
My understanding is that wood isn’t only pressure treated, but also soaked in chemicals that bugs and decomposers don’t like to eat.
- coolcase 1y agoYour fence probably has chemicals like that too.
- permo-w 1y agothen the carbon trapped in that wood is staying there for much longer than it would otherwise
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- archi42 1y agoThat's true, at least around here [Germany]. Plus the nasty stuff might leak into the environment over the decades, and it's a pain to dispose of. IIUC, they replace them with plastics since the plastic is seemingly more ecologically friendly and easier to recycle. Mind concrete sleepers are what's used these days. You'll find wood only in shunting or cargo yards. (Or museums. Or the US - see linked commen by LeonM). Source: I randomly met someone involved with that project. A proper train enthusiast can probably elaborate here, but I think I remember the core idea correctly. Also this obviously doesn't necessarily hold globally, though I can imagine many track operators face similar challenges. Edit: While I wrote the above, LeonM wrote a nice reply on a sibling comment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44028161 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44028161
- wahern 1y agoI think pressure treated implies chemical impregnation--the pressure is used to diffuse the preservative through the wood.