Skip Diving is one of my top hobbies
I can not walk past a skip without at least looking in it.
The Health and Safety Executive have given formaldehyde a Maximum Exposure Limit of 2 parts
per million. Most European manufacturers now produce low formaldehyde board made to the
stringent German "E1" standard of 0.1 parts per million. However it is still easy to buy
imported MDF which has been produced in plants where they have not made the investment to
produce low formaldehyde board. Some suppliers don't even know if their boards are low
formaldehyde or not. Low formaldehyde board is easily available though. For instance
from Travis Perkins, who have hundreds of branches nationwide. Their standard MDF board
is low formaldehyde, produced in Scotland by Caberboard, who have been producing low
formaldehyde board for 8 years. If you want to be ultra cautious, zero formaldehyde
emission boards are available. Medite make a "ZF"zero formaldehyde board. The boards are
about 50% more expensive than standard board and it is less widely available.
Timber may be sprayed with a pesticide when it is logged to prevent mould growth, or at any point on its journey from the forest to the workplace or home. Some boards may contain wood treated with pesticides bit it will be difficult to check this.