The seemingly endless parade of cool recycled pallet projects makes these near-ubiquitous items look like an irresistible resource – but beware, not all pallets are created equal. The safety factor of your pallet depends on which country it is from and which procedures have been used on them to make them suitable for international shipping.
Canadian pallets are the safest
Apparently, pallets from Canada are the safest, since most of them are only pressure- and heat-treated (marked with “HT”), as opposed to being fumigated with the neurotoxin and carcinogen methyl bromide (marked with “MB”), to kill off invasive species like pine beetles. Writing for the Media Co-op is permaculturalist Jenstotland, who provides some very helpful details on methyl bromide:
Repallet gives further details on Canadian pallets:
Decoding the stamp
Instructables author minnecrapolis notes that newer American pallets also may be suitable to re-purpose:
More over at Repallet, The Media Co-op and Instructables.
Warning
In addition to avoiding pallets that have been fumigated with methyl bromide, don’t use any pallet that seems to have had something spilled on it. Do not burn treated lumber in a fireplace.
