We bought a property and the fence posts are made of railway sleepers. Do we need to remove them and dispose of them as hazardous waste?
The Waste Act does not apply to you until you decide to dispose of the sleeper fencing (then this wood needs to be disposed of as hazardous waste). It is now part of the building as a building product that the original owner used there in history. The use of wood treated with creosol is dealt with by REACH Regulation 1907/2006 (point 31 of Annex XVII). Treated wood must not be used indoors (for any purpose), in toys, on playgrounds, in parks, gardens and outdoor recreation facilities where there is a risk of frequent skin contact, in the manufacture of garden furniture (e.g. picnic tables) and for the manufacture, use and every repeated treatment of, for example, containers intended for cultivation purposes.