Why you can't buy it any more
Creosote was withdrawn from general public sale across the EU and UK in 2003 because of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons it contains, several of which are classed as probable human carcinogens. A modified professional-use product remains available to certified users under controlled conditions.
That means any consumer tin in a shed is at minimum twenty years old and is hazardous waste, not paint. It does not go in a bin, it does not go down a drain, and it cannot be dried out and binned the way emulsion can.
The modern shed-and-fence products sold as 'creosote substitute' are a different chemistry and are ordinary treated-timber products. They still are not bin material in liquid form, but they do not carry the same restrictions.
- Banned for public sale since 2003
- Classed as a probable carcinogen
- Professional-use versions still exist
- Old tins are hazardous waste
- Never burn creosoted timber
- Never use sleepers for raised beds
An old tin in the shed
Take it to a recycling centre that accepts household hazardous waste. In Glasgow all four sites do, free, for residents with proof of address. Keep it in the original container, upright and boxed so it cannot tip in the boot.
Do not decant it, do not mix it with anything else, and do not attempt to use it up on a fence to get rid of it — applying a banned product is not disposal, and creosote leaches into soil for years afterwards.
If the tin has rusted through or the label has gone, tell staff what you believe it is rather than presenting an unlabelled container. An unidentified liquid is much harder for a site to accept.
Fence line coming down?
Panels, posts and concrete spurs taken away, with treated timber kept out of the clean stream.
Creosoted timber — the bigger volume
The real quantity is not tins, it is timber: old fence posts and panels, railway sleepers, telegraph poles and agricultural timber. Anything dark brown, oily to the touch and with that distinctive tarry smell on a warm day is very likely creosoted.
Two things you must not do. Never burn it — burning creosoted timber releases the PAHs as smoke and the ash concentrates them, and it is both hazardous and, in a domestic garden, an offence in most circumstances. And never use old sleepers for raised beds or a children's play area; the leaching is exactly why the product was restricted.
It also should not go into general wood recycling, because that stream feeds chipboard manufacture and biomass fuel, neither of which can accept treated timber.
The correct route for treated timber
Treated timber goes to a licensed facility that can handle it, usually via a registered waste carrier who separates it from clean timber. Some recycling centres take household quantities of treated wood in general waste; many refuse it. Check the specific site rather than assuming.
For any real quantity — a run of fence panels, a load of sleepers, a decking lift — a collection is the practical route. We separate treated timber from clean timber so each goes to the right place, and you get a duty of care (your legal responsibility for waste you produce) transfer note under our SEPA registration (WCR/R/3002381).
That is fence removal for fencing and garden rubbish clearance where it comes out alongside everything else in the garden.
