What not to burn

Besides wet wood, there are other materials that are dangerous to burn in your home fire. When the materials listed below are burnt, they can give off toxic substances. They can harm your and other’s health, the environment as well as your fireplace, woodburner or chimney.

Material	Toxic substance/s it can give off if burnt include…	Potential effects these toxic substances can have include…
Material	Toxic substance/s it can give off if burnt include…	human health	the environment	your fireplace, woodburner or chimney
Treated wood	arsenic (from CCA treated wood) tin (from LOSP treated wood) boron	Short-term exposure: sore throat lung irritation Long-term exposure: lung damage liver and kidney damage damage to the central nervous system increased risk of cancer	Ash will be contaminated (with arsenic, and may have high levels of copper, chromium, boron or tin). Shouldn't be put on the garden.	-
Painted wood	Depends on type and colour of paint but can give off: lead cadmium barium zinc copper tin	As above.	Ash is likely to be contaminated with one or more heavy metals.	-
Plywood Particleboard MDF	formaldehyde	Short-term exposure: coughing headaches eye and skin irritation asthma attacks Long-term exposure: cancer (suspected)	-	creosote in chimney - possible increased risk of chimney fires
Driftwood	dioxins furans	Long-term exposure: cancer (suspected) problems with immune, developmental and reproductive systems	Dioxins can settle on plants, which, if eaten by livestock, contaminate milk and meat.	corrosion of woodburner’s metallic parts (due to high salt content)
Rubbish plastics disposable nappies magazines wrappers boxes	VOCs (volatile organic compounds) semi-volatile organic compounds (e.g. phenol) chlorobenzenes, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, carbonyls (e.g. acetaldehyde, acetone and formaldehyde) dioxins furans	As above.	As above.	As above.

For more information on the effects of these toxic substances, visit the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry website.