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Okay. So summer is here. America’s big birthday bash is coming up, you’re thinking of happy hour, and you want to invite some friends over to chill out at your backyard tiki bar. All your friends are like you—trying to be eco-conscious—but you’re afraid to admit you are a bit burned out from all the talk about peak oil and pesticides, cancer-causing plastic used in baby bottles, the floating plastic continent, the disappearing wild salmon you used to throw on the grill without feeling guilty, yadda yadda ya.
So despite your innate eco proclivity and the fact you’re jonesing to have a summer party, you’re thinking one of the greenie friends you invite over might point out that you have arsenic leaching out of your chemically laced pressure-treated wood deck (not to mention harping on the melting ice caps and lecturing you again about how we are in “the 11th hour”). Before the summer bash has started, you already envision excusing yourself early from your own party and sneaking upstairs to climb in bed and watch Terminator again. (Those end-of-the-world films somehow seem to take our minds off the end of the world.)
Alas! Not so fast, party pooper! The best way to combat summer green fatigue is to finally get to that deck and patio makeover you’ve been putting off. Just do it in such a cool hip “E” way that it will make even the most tired LOHASter who thought they had seen it all turn their head and be green with envy, saying “Where did you get that? I want one!”
The best way to start a patio or deck makeover is to first look at the materials the patio or deck are made of, and if they are bad for your health and the environment, and you can afford to, replace them entirely.
Case in point—decks made from pressure-treated wood that has chromated copper arsenate (CCA) in it. CCA contains arsenic, a known carcinogen. Until 2003, most wood in decks and even picnic tables and wood children’s play sets were injected with CCA to preserve it. The Consumer Product Safety Commission helped get CCA banned for residential use. Scientific studies show a real risk for carcinogenic exposure to arsenic from CCA, especially for children.
Thankfully, CCA products are no longer sold. But there is still tons of it out there, so it is important to replace these materials with something like Poly-Wood, a structural plastic lumber from post-consumer and post-industrial recycled plastics or TREX, a long-lasting decking material made from recycled glass and plastic. There is also Timbertech, a wood-plastic composite made from recycled wood fibers and plastic resins; although it does not use recycled plastic, it’s a long-lasting durable material. Another good choice is a natural wood such as Western red cedar, which although expensive is naturally decay and insect resistant. If choosing wood, make sure the wood you buy is FSC certified for being sustainably harvested.
There are many alternatives to CCA pressure-treated wood now on the market, so ask a professional about the differences, as some treatments could corrode steel used to support the wood and have other downsides. One alternative, ACQ (alkaline copper quartenary) is sold under the names Preserve or NatureWood. But ACQ and other alternatives like it raise concerns about copper leaching and toxicity to aquatic life, so they should not be used for piers or near wetlands.
According to expert Jim Holiber, of Green Depot (greendepot.com), a green building-supply center with locations in Brooklyn and Greenport, “While ACQ is a much healthier product than CCA, it is not quite as nontoxic as Everwood. The ACQ formulation has borate (as does Everwood), but also contains monoethanolamine, alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride and didecl dimethyl ammonium chloride. Monoethanolamine is an irritant to the eyes and lungs and can cause asthma. Overexposure to fumes of alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride and didecl dimethyl ammonium chloride can cause eye and skin irritation and coughing, respiratory, and pulmonary problems. Our chemically sensitive customers would have an adverse reaction if they came in contact with ACQ.”
According to Holiber, “The nonmetallic waterborne preservative in Everwood is a natural borate solution. We like Everwood because it can be used outdoors as well as indoors. This gives our customers the option of using it in their basement or other parts of their house that are damp. Another great feature about Everwood is that there is no need to handle the material in a special way because the treatment does not cause eye, skin, and inhalation irritations as with competitive brands. Since Everwood is clear, the treated wood can be painted or stained for outside decks and home interiors. Green Depot believes that Everwood is the healthiest solution on the market to prevent wood rot, fungi, and wood-eating insects.”
BuildingGreen (buildinggreen.com) in Vermont, another trustworthy source for green-product information, recommends EcoLife, wood pressure-treated with a nonmetallic, waterborne wood preservative that protects against decay and termites.
If your patio is cement and looks shabby and needs to be redone, consider doing a new patio with porous concrete or permeable pavement that lets the water drain right through it. The more porous the area of your property, the less storm-water runoff and the more water that gets filtered down into the aquifer. While at the GoGreen expo in New York City in April, I found a local resource for this, Permapave (permapavellc.com), in Jericho.
After looking at the actual deck or patio, the next step is to get the best sustainable and eco-friendly outdoor furniture and other yard items to wow your guests.
So chill out! Have a party. Go out and buy a bright red Adirondack chair made from recycled plastic, and a solar cooker to put that salmon in. Pour some Long Island wine into the new glasses made from recycled wine bottles, and put some appetizers on top of your new solar PV table that can charge up your stereo system. Have some summer fun while enjoying new products that help make your party rock while reinvigorating our planet.
What You Need to Know about CCA
• Dangerous levels of arsenic were found in pressure-treated wood purchased at The Home Depot and Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse before the ban on CCA was enacted in 2003.
• Enormous amounts of CCA products sold before the 2003 ban are still in use across the country.
• Treated wood should not be burned in an open fire or in a stove, fireplace, or residential boiler because toxic chemicals may be produced as part of the smoke and ashes.
• Wear gloves when working with the wood. After working with the wood, and before eating, drinking, toileting, and use of tobacco products, wash exposed areas thoroughly.
• If you already have a CCA wood deck or other structure, seal it every few years with a waterproof sealant, paint, or stain. It is advised to not use acid deck wash or brighteners as this is suspected of accelerating the release of arsenic from CCA wood.
Eco Groovy items for your yard makeover
Sun Table, suntable.net
Made by Brooklyn-based Sudia Design Labs, this outdoor table can power your laptop, TV, outdoor stereo, and all your gadgets. It has a 64-watt PV panel, a battery that stores power, and a DC power outlet as well as an AC inverter.
Scrap Eater Solar Composter, ecopatio.com
Made from oak wine barrels, this is a passive solar-powered composter that takes table scraps and transforms them into rich soil for your plants.
Poly-Wood Deck Chairs, polywoodinc.com
Indiana-based Poly-Wood makes great chairs and tables out of recycled milk jugs that could have ended up in a landfill. They come in many colors and styles.
Reforest Teak, reforestteak.com
This company makes teak furniture that is FSC certified. In addition to only using sustainably grown wood, the company is active in Costa Rica, reforesting areas and helping restore damaged and depleted lands to become productive and ecologically sound.
