The preservative creosote, is a biodegradable product as well according to the Rail Tie Assoc.
"Imagine a world where the end of a product’s life cycle results in a near-net balance in terms of energy consumed and generated, where our planet’s health and the customer’s needs gain equal footing. If this sounds like a visionary’s dream, welcome to The Green Future – at least as it relates to the life cycle of the venerable wood crosstie.
Today’s wood crosstie is truly a green product. In
fact, it may be the greenest product used for railroad infrastructure:
• Wood is a product derived from alternative fuel– solar energy.
• Wood acts as a carbon sink and traps greenhouse gases.
• Wood is the only renewable resource used as crosstie material (compared to concrete, steel and plastic).
• Wood crossties are farless energy-intensive to produce than steel or concrete ties.
• When its useful life is over, the wood tie is possibly the best source of biomass fuel that exists in our world today.
• Even the preservative creosote, used to make ties last over 30 years in high-stress railroad track applications, is naturally derived as a byproduct of the coal-coking process. And, it is a biodegradable product as well.
Used ties are a great biomass energy resource. And by increasing the combustion or gasification of used ties, we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and other sources of energy.
The Railway Tie Association is among the proponents of using wood crossties as biomass fuel after they have reached the end of their useful life. The RTA campaigns to educate decision-makers to facilitate development of reasonable guidelines and regulations that result in additional cogeneration plants in the vicinity of stocks of treated wood crossties ready for final disposal."
