CP080 - ETNO Common Position on the reuse of CCA and creosote impregnated telephone poles

In its Common Position on the reuse of CCA and creosote impregnated telephone poles” ETNO highlights the importance of harmonising their reuse and proposes to allow the re-sale of all used poles, including creosote and CCA poles. This would substantially reduce the overall amount of waste and the associated environmental burden.

Before 2002 old wooden poles treated with Creosote or Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA), which represent about 85% of the total, could be re-sold for outdoor applications like bridges and fences. After Directives 2001/90/EC and 2003/2/EC (specifying waste from creosote and CCA treated wood shall be treated as hazardous) came into force, considerably different interpretations on the possible reuse of poles were adopted across EU member states. The resulting high disposal costs of telephone poles and differences in interpretation of legislation create unfair competitive conditions for telecom operators. ETNO therefore asks for harmonisation and proposes allowing the reuse and thus re-sale of all used poles, including creosote and CCA poles, which would reduce the overall amount of waste and the associated environmental burden. This would mean savings in disposal costs, reduced use of natural resources (trees) and less waste as well as CO2 emission.