I would like to build a 3 section compost bin but after doing research have found I have the "bad" kind of pallets. Would they be OK if I painted them? Would that keep them from leaching the bad chemicals into my compost?

Thanks!

Ms. Leslie;
In a word, no. When using pallets for your garden needs, especially the vegetable garden, care must be taken in the type used. Most will have a kind of brand burnt into them, so always look for HT (heat treated or kiln dried) on the outside of the skid - or the bottom wood the pallet rests on. In my opinion painting them will only prolong their deterioration and your worry, so maybe you should chuck 'em. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, and I am sorry, but in the longer run I think you'll be better off.
Good luck.
J.R.

I had never read that before, good to know.
Here is more info on how pallets are stamped.
https://preparednessmama.com/p...

Thank you for your responses and the great info. Luckily I had the initials confused and the ones I have do have HT on them.

ON the other side , depending on the age of th pallet any thing that might leach is long gone while the amount they contain is not something that is going to be there year, after year after year after year etc.
If you have new pallets, they might leach, old pallets not very likely.
There is too much Chicken Little rhetoric on items like this.

MB is a gas and leaves the site to mix with air immediately after it is allowed to (removing tents or plastic tarp) If I remember right the half life of it was about 30 min in to the ground after we pulled tarp. I wouldn't worry to much about it. It exist pretty much everywhere in the air even more around surface vents and volcanoes. Source: grew up with strawberry farmer family that applied it the dirt about 2 months before planting a very year.

How many years will a pallet leach harmful chemicals?

Leslie is using the pallets for a Compost Bin. How can anyone look at her post and say "they should be chucked." We did not even know what kind of pallets she had? HT simply means they are heat-treated, read kiln dried, to kill bugs, nothing else. Has nothing to do with chemicals, methyl bromide, pesticides, etc. As such, they can be shipped with produce, whatever, on them all over the world and not be held up at some destination on the suspicion of being infected with insects. Happens all the time. Spruce Bud Worm being an example, came over to North America on foreign-made pallets. Still not a very good prevention against infestation by non-native insects, because they can always crawl on the pallet or the produce for that matter anytime after being HT'ed.
I am decidedly leaning toward the sentiments expressed by RpR in that this issue has been blown far out of proportion and is decidedly lacking in scientific peer review. Here in Nova Scotia, we are a huge producer of hardwood pallets, exporting same all over the World. We fight to get our hands on used pallets for the garden or the fireplace. LOL. And to let you know how really ridiculous this has become, when we Canadians travel abroad, we are not allowed to bring in any pieces of art made from wood, no carvings, no wooden picture-framed art or photos, nothing!!! Perhaps the same in the US? That's how silly this issue has become. Cheers!

Ms. Leslie stated she believed she had some bad pallets and asked about it, the hardest part about reading is comprehension- I guess.
If you want to use something most garden pros suggest you shouldn't, then by all means do so, it is, by your work sweat and money,yours. But if you sell or live off what you grow then you are taking a serious risk of harming someone who eats it and by extension opens you to litigation at the very least.
I rarely post here anymore because it seems to me there are more naysayer than there are real gardeners,and then I end up posting something like this.This was the first time I browsed through this site in over a month and saw LaLambChop had posted her question 9 (!) days before I answered, with the best answer I (!) could give. If what you say is truly what YOU believe then why didn't YOU offer a response? It's almost like some people are just waiting under the bridge for someone else to respond so they could crap all over this site with their own misguided beliefs and hey, more power to them!, and to every new gardener on this site, BEWARE, there are those that will push, promote or maybe even out of pure ignorance, suggest something unsafe, unhealthy or just downright stupid, but if you're on this site and are unsure then be safe and open a new window and search for more information on your problem. If you rely solely on the dubious opinions here, then CAVEAT LECTOR applies.
Since I have joined this site I've seen ( or read ) some incredible...STUFF, broken up styrofoam is just as good as perlite, certain birds should all be killed because "..they eat my earthworms "and even "..spray some on your yard and see what happens" and now this. Oh well .
Ms. Leslie, I wish you well in your endeavors and hope the best for you.

Well it took me a while, but finally I found the answer to my question. Why was methyl-bromide being stopped from being used on pallets? I thought maybe cancer risk or some such thing. Nope, because it depletes the ozone. I don't consider myself to be a naysayer, I had no opinion on this subject before reading this thread. But based on what I read, and what I did not read (cases of people actually being harmed by the product) I would not hesitate to use those pallets in my garden. Now if anyone can produce facts showing why this would be harmful in the garden I am more than willing to change my opinion, because I have changed it once already. After reading a lot of gardening articles stating the pallets could be a "major health risk" if treated with methyl-bromide (but without any real support of that statement) I accepted it to be true. Then after the posts above I decided I should find the reason for it being banned.
Here is the article I found.
https://www.epa.gov/ods-phaseo...