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Barbara Illman The workshop organizers intended to have this paper serve as a thought-provoking vehicle for discussion, not as a position paper. To address problems about treatment regulations on solid wood packing materials (SWPM), some basic questions will be posed and discussed. By its nature, this paper will have to be conceptual and speculative. The first speculation is that some countries do not have the timber resources or treatment technology to implement regulations on SWPM. Is it true? Or does the question apply to almost all countries? When considering the cost-effectiveness of treating low-value wood packing materials, societal and economic costs must be considered. There is no specific literature on the use of wood for packing materials, nor on the treatment capacity of most countries, especially kiln capacity. In many countries such as the United States and Canada, pallets and crates are made from low-value lumber taken from the center of the timber at sawmills. Wood used for pallets and crates in some developing countries would be considered high-value in the United States. The mitigation methods currently required are steam sterilization, kiln heating, and chemical application by dip, spray, pressure chamber, or fumigation. The requirements are written for a problem insect, fungus, or nematode. Building construction logs in Canada are kiln-heated to meet current import regulations in Germany. Most countries do not have the wood resources or the kiln technology for such exports. Pest management systems and definitions can be found at http://www.nappo.org/989-002_e.htm. More information about regulations and treatments can be seen on the USDA APHIS Interim and APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine Treatment Manual, Section T404 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/alb/alb.html. Treatment costs are estimated to increase SWPM costs by 10%, or to double the cost of SWPM in some cases. The low value of most packing materials may not justify the costs. What are the resources needed for these mitigation methods? Heat treatment may not require fancy equipment. Regulations typically require a given temperature for a specified period of time. Information about the theory and practice of wood heating and drying is given in several manuals, along with specification for heating conditions and kiln equipment. These can be found at http://www.fpl.fs.us/documents/fplqtr/fplqtr113/ch12.pdf and http://www.mtc.com.my/publication/library/drying/contents.html. Kiln drying and kiln heating are not the same. We should be careful to use the term “kiln heat” when referring to heat killing as a mitigation method. Wood can be heated to some required temperatures without being dried. Are there any proposed regulations for SWPM worldwide? The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) is considering worldwide mitigation standards for exportation of SWPM, and planned to send a proposal to the United Nations, its parent organization in April 2001. Heat will most likely be proposed as the major mitigation treatment. The proposed regulations can be reviewed in this workshop in the session on International Standard. Some people are concerned about the differences between kiln treatment of hardwoods and softwoods, predicting that the cost for hardwoods would be twice that of softwoods. Hardwoods are difficult to heat-treat, taking longer even with the additional step of predrilling. Using this speculation, the same people ask, “Which countries have the conifer resources for kiln treatment?” Conifers are naturally distributed in the northern temperate regions and grown on plantations in southern hemisphere countries such as Chile, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, and Australia. “Of the countries that have conifers, which ones have the kiln capacity needed to produce lumber for SWP?” Scandinavian countries have the conifer resource and kiln capacity, but many European countries such the Netherlands and Belgium do not. Another speculation is that the countries without conifer resource and kiln capacity would have to buy kiln-treated lumber from countries with the conifer resources and kiln capacity. Added to all these variables, are reports about new kiln schedules for hardwoods, approximating the schedules for southern yellow pine lumber http://www.fpl.fs.us/new.htm. Hardwood kiln schedules for 270 North American and tropical species, estimated schedules for 3,200 other species, and an online program for generating schedules are given at http://www1.fpl.fs.fed.us/drying.html. Can low-value hardwoods be used for SWPM when kiln treated? Will costs be prohibitive for southern hemisphere countries where hardwoods are typically found? Alternatives to solid wood for packing materials include processed wood, such as wood composites (oriented strand board or OSB, plywood, corrugated materials from fiber), plastics, and metals. Some countries are urging the development of new packaging, and several environmental groups promote alternatives to wood by calling for the “phase out” of wood for packing and shipping materials. The cost of these alternatives is often greater than treating solid wood. We invite comments from our international colleagues about the problems in their respective countries. Additional web sites that address mitigation problems are listed below. *Federal Register notice on SWPM restrictions, updated regularly, is at http://www.westernoverseas.com/frd-f.html *USDA Plant and Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine, on Pest Risk Assessment for Importation of Solid Wood Packing Materials into the United States is at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/pra/swpm/ *National Invasive Species Information System can be found at http://www.invasivespecies.gov/ *The Exotic Forest Pest Information System for North America, sponsored by the North American Forest Commission and the US Forest Service, is at http://www.exoticforestpests.org/english/search.htm
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