托盘床-很酷，但有潜在危险!

We've all seen these rustic shabby-chic pallet wood beds & headboards on social media- these days it seems we can't get enough of being creatively frugal and independent - but while certain pallets area great source of rustic wood有了性格的再利用，别人可能真的在污染我们家里的空气!

We've even heard from some of our Australian and New Zealand readers with "inside knowledge" to say that down-under at the moment, all shipping pallets coming into customs from the East are being fumigated with toxic cocktails of chemicals "just in case" - so if you are reading this in the land of Vegemite and Didgeridoos, maybe it would be safer to scrap pallet furniture as a plan for the forseeable future. This article then is mostly for those in the USA and Canada - where unless someone tells us differently, shipping pallets and containers are still adhering to the IPPC marking standards that we explain below - making it possible to identify which pallets should be safe to use as beds and furniture - but most importantly - which may be dangerous.

Shipping pallet beds may be cool, but they may also be toxic
Shipping pallet beds may be fashionable, but how do we tell if they are toxic?

The background on wooden shipping pallets

Half a billion pallets are made each year and about two billion pallets are in use across the United Statesalone - used for transporting all manner of goods as diverse as foods and hazardous chemicals.

  • The production of pallets accounts for 43% of hardwood and 15% of softwood usage in the U.S.
  • Some are reused for other shipping purposes, but many are disposed of.

Some modern pallet standards are designed to pass through standard doorways, for example the europallet (800 mm x 1200 mm) and the U.S. Military 35 in × 45.5 in (890 mm × 1,160 mm) - but because of differences in transport standards and sizes of trucks worldwide, there is no single standard for pallets - which is why, due to cost and a need to focus on core business, pallet "pooling" or a type of pallet rental has become more common in transport logistics companies. Some pallet suppliers pool reusable pallets, sometimes fitted with integral tracking devices which makes them expensive. A pallet management company can help supply, clean, repair, and reuse pallets - the ultimate in recycling for packaging products.

Recycling pallets is something the industry does anyway - especially the hardwood ones
Lots of pallets means lots of pallet recycling - but we're on the fence as to whether using pallets as furniture is safe

Heavy duty pallets are a form of reusable packaging and are designed to be used many times, while lightweight pallets are designed for single use only - and these are often the ones folks find abandoned and decide to repurpose. In the EU, government legislation based on the Waste Framework Directive requires the reuse of packaging items in preference to recycling and disposal - so the better made pallets with interesting hardwoods are relatively hard to come by as they are usually dispatched with an invoice to the receivers of the goods, who only get a refund when a serviceable and equivalent shipping pallet is returned. As hardwood durable pallets can cost in the $2-300 dollar range - companies tend to keep hold of the best quality ones!

让我们再说一遍——仅在美国就有200万个托盘在使用——它们被回收是一件好事——尤其是作为托盘再使用作为运输托盘——而不是用于家具制造和床上!

Toxic pallets? Is it to stop them going missing?

As we know, there is a growing trend ofbuilding home furniture with used shipping pallets, or ‘skids’, but not all shipping pallets are safe for re-use for two reasons.

  1. 取决于托盘最初用于什么，可以影响他们重新用途的安全程度。
  2. Some pallets use lumber that has been treated with toxic chemicals to prevent insects being transported.

Some pallets have been used for shipping dangerous goods, and are often contaminated with toxic chemicals from containers leaking - especially CP marked pallets that were specifically produced to ship chemical products.

即使是用于运输食物的托盘也不一定是安全的，因为食物泄漏会导致霉菌和细菌的形成。So, here we want to help you find which pallets are safe to reuse for building so you don’t unknowingly contaminate theair quality in the home.

How to finding safe shipping pallets for building

The first indication if a pallet is wise to reclaim for building or best left alone, is how clean they are. Stains on pallets may be from food, or from toxic substances. It can be difficult to ascertain what a stain is, so it is best to assume any stained pallet may be contaminated with something toxic. There are enough shipping pallets hanging around that you can bypass any that look a little dodgy during your pallet hunting.

为什么有些运输托盘上盖章，有些没有?

Pallets used for international shipping must be marked, those used for shipping domestic products are known as ‘national pallets’, and don’t need to be marked. National pallets are most often not treated with chemicals, so if you find some with no markings, they are more likely a safe choice for re-purposing as furniture - assuming they are clean of course. I would add a caveat to that though – anytime you repurpose old wood of any kind or any building materials at all, there is an increased risk that they have seen some sort of wear or use that makes them a less suitable candidate for some uses.

the best pallets for making furniture would probably be recycled anyhow
The best pallets for re-use would probably be recycled anyhow - so we're not necessarily doing the planet a favor

And to that, I would specifically mention interior furniture, and particularly beds, headboards, night tables, and…cribs! To be quite frank, the motive for putting this article together were some images we saw of pallets used in a nursery, and one specifically of a headboard that used all the stamps (including the toxic ones) as highlight features. They were quite beautiful, and we admire the spirit ofreusing building materials但在我们看来，对于某些应用而言，有毒化学物质排放出来的风险太大，不值得这样做。

How to read the stamps on a shipping pallet to see if it's safe to build with

The IPPC stamp, which stands for International Plant Protection Convention, is the identifying mark you are looking for在一个更重的运输托盘上。制定这一标准的原因是为了防止入侵植物和昆虫跨越国际边界传播。Those pallets are treated in a variety of ways, and are labelled accordingly:

  • HT: These are Heat Treated pallets, which have been heated to a minimum temperature of 60°C for hardwoods and 56°C for softwoods to kill any insects in the wood and prevent future infestations. As no chemicals were used in the treatment, if they are clean with no contamination from their contents, they are safe to use.
  • KD: KD代表kiln - dry。窑干运输托盘没有达到持续必要的温度，以符合热处理。用窑炉烘干木材，可防止真菌滋生，大大减少翘曲的发生。由于只经过加热处理，它们在清洁后使用也很安全。您可能还会看到运输托盘上的KD-HT印章，这意味着他们符合两者。

加热木材到高温也会释放汁液在一些物种，所以你可能会发现托盘有染色的外观，即使他们是安全的使用。我们不会放心地推荐它们是安全的，因为这将根据具体情况而定，所以请使用您自己的判断。

  • DB: This stamp simply means the wood was Debarked according to IPPC standards, so it has no negative impact on the safety of wood and is fine for re-purposing.
  • PRL: this stands for ‘Package Research Laboratory’ and is only an inspection verification stamp and is not an indication of a specific treatment, so it is safe to use.

How to identify toxic shipping pallets as unsafe for re-use

The following classifications of shipping pallet shouldn't be reused因为这些可爱的天然木材很可能含有有害有毒的化学物质。

  • MB: These pallets are treated Methyl bromide fumigation to kill invasive species of insects. Methyl bromide is harmful to humans, and listed as ‘highly Acute Toxic’ by the EPA (environmental Protection Agency) so avoid building anything with shipping pallets that carry the MB stamp. There is no safe use for MB pallets, not even as firewood. They were supposed to be phased out , so it is not as likely but still possible to find them in circulation - or worse still these may be the pallets that are most often found abandoned at the side of the road.
  • EUR: This stamp may have a history of use with railways, it is not a direct indication of toxicity but is best avoided.
  • CP: These pallets are from the German Chemicals Industry Association, and while it is not a direct indication of toxicity, it means that the pallets were used to ship chemicals, so there is an increased risk of contamination due to any potential spills. Best not to take chances.

Which colors of shipping pallets are safe for re-use?

Colored shipping pallets may at first seem to be a pretty attractive option for building with, simply for the variety in aesthetics, but we would caution against it. The color itself is not a direct indication of toxic treatment, but colored shipping pallets are an indication of rental pallets or "pool" pallets as they are known in the transport logistics industry.

The color is used to identify different companies. These pallets may be used for international shipping, and used repeatedly, so there is more chance of contamination due to the leaking of the contents they were used to ship.

If you are looking for colored shipping pallets for a build, particularly using reclaimed wood for interior finishing, it is best to stick with clean, untreated wood and usenatural non-toxic paintsto protect indoor air quality.

国际托盘邮票是什么样的?

We were curious to find out what all those stamps on pallets meant, so here goes...

How to read pallet labels to see if they are toxic
This is the information on an IPPC stamped pallet which help to identify which should be safe and which are toxic

There are two main things to look for on the stamp!

Having identified that a pallet has a stamp, look for the IPPC logo first.

1 Pallet labels - how to tell if pallets are safe for reuse
This is a typical IPPC pallet stamp which gives all the necessary information to see if it's made from toxic wood or not

TheIPPC stamp: if you don’t see it, use it with caution! A pallet may be perfectly safe without this logo, but you don’t have clear information.

2 Pallet labels - how to tell if a pallet is toxic
Heres the IPPC logo on a pallet stamp

Next, look for the treatment code :

3 Pallet labelling - how to know if pallets are chemically treated
This pallet was debarked and heat treated - a visual check for cleanliness and these should be good for pallet beds

To recap the types of pallet treatment that are safe or dangerous for using as beds or other furniture:

  • [HT]= Heat treatment
  • [KD]= Kiln Dried
  • [DB]= Debarked
  • [MB]= Methyl Bromide Treated -TOXIC Pallet wood - AVOID THESE PALLETS FOR REUSE or BURNING

以上是两个最重要的信息检查托盘邮票。然后，你有一个地理特定的标识符。The first two letters of this identifier will indicate which country the pallet is from (as per ISO 3166), followed by a regional identifier and a unique registration number for the manufacturer.

4 Pallets labelling - how to tell which country a pallet is from and if toxic
The country of origin of a pallet may be of interest - especially as we hear that certain countries are using toxins again

Pallets stamped with just EUR and possibly IPPC also are old - so have more possibility of having been contaminated by the goods that have been sat on them - originally these wooden pallets were used by railways in Europe to move goods - so we would probably avoid any wooden pallets with just this labelling - unless that is it also has the EPAL label (see below).

5 What does EUR stamp mean on a pallet and is it safe to use for a pallet bed
Is a pallet stamped EUR safe to use for building a pallet bed or to use the wood for a headboard?

If you find a European pallet with IPPC - EUR and EPAL stamps on, then double check the IPPC label (as above) to be certain it uses untreated wood, but normally they should only say HT for heat treated making them very suitable for making pallet beds from as they are also designed to carry up to 1500kg or 3300lb!

6 Pallet labels - does an EPAL stamp on a pallet mean it is safe wood
This clean and sturdy wood pallet is marked IPPC - EUR and EPAL - and is probably suitable for building a pallet bed

Are pallets good for making beds & furniture ?

In conclusion - do we feel that reusing pallets for furniture or building with is a good idea?Honestly, we're divided on this one. Some feel that the potential negatives outweigh the positives for reusing pallets - especially for beds and furniture - but also in gardens if in contact with plants and vegetables.

The pluses for reusing pallets to build with:

  • It's recycling or upcycling a mundane and naturally derived product
  • Pallets can often be found for free
  • Pallet wood can have character and a certain rustic charm
  • Pallets are sturdy - so can build stuff quickly
  • Building from pallets is satisfying!

The minuses for reusing pallets for building beds, furniture etc:

  • The wood in pallets can be toxic - very toxic!
  • Rough timber may have character, but it also snags bedclothes, clothes, nylons...
  • Pallets are recycled, reconditioned and reused constantly - so only really tatty or broken ones should slip out of the system which are not great for building anything out of
  • Pallet beds and headboards have been trending for a while, so they're becoming a little "meh..."
  • Recycled pallets are generally free - and can look dare we say, a little cheap?

底线是，每个人都可以决定他们是喜欢还是讨厌使用回收托盘作为床、家具或建筑的美学。如果你决定重复使用托盘，那么至少现在，有了上面的信息，你应该能够找到安全无毒的托盘，可以做任何你喜欢的事情……享受吧!

Now you know more aboutwhich pallets are likely to be safe to build beds & furniture from, learn more aboutreducing waste,composting,disposing of construction wasteand othereasy lifestyle changes to reduce your environmental footprintin these pages :

Find more about green home constructionin the EcohomeGreen Building Guide pages- also, learn more aboutthe benefits of a free Ecohome Network Membership here.