HIGHLIGHT ® Tanasote – helping keep wood in the game Industrial timber still has many applications in today’s world, including railway sleepers, utility poles, as well as in heavy-duty agricultural applications. Traditionally, Creosote (a wood preservative pesticide) has been used to protect the timber and increase its longevity. Notably, the safety and environmental credentials of Creosote have been under review in Europe for years, and its use has been restricted under the EU’s Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR). Over the past decade, our wood protection R&D team has worked to develop a BPR authorized alternative; in April ® 2021, we introduced Tanasote . The oil-based copper wood preservative is designed to deliver a long service life (typically beyond 40 years depending on timber species and end-use application), while minimizing the risk of early failures. It is the only oil-based wood preservative approved under the BPR, and all its active ingredients are ® approved for wood preservative use in Europe. Tanasote has passed the BPR’s risk assessments to be used for the treatment of timbers in industrial heavy-duty applications both above ground and in-ground contact. During our extensive R&D process, we tested the performance of the product beyond the required industry standards to ensure that a longer service life for industrial-use timber can be achieved. This included testing in high humidity, aggressive field test sites and laboratory fungal studies. In addition, to provide confidence in our test performance data, it was reviewed by a third party and we engaged in full scale trials with commercial partners across Europe, including railway sleepers, utility poles, equestrian and agricultural fencing.