Are these products safe to use for raised beds? I used Timbertech, one of those wood/plastic products for my deck and was thinking of using some leftover/scrap boards for the sides of my raised beds. The company says it is okay but can I really trust them. Does anyone know of any independent information about such products?

Stan, I don't know the answer, but I am replying to bump this to the top because I would like to know about this also.

Welcom to the OG forum.

Trust them about what? You are already using it on a deck? How much of that material do you think will leach into the ground as a deck structure? The materials that are used in those fake lumbers are for the most part sealed into the material by the plastics used, but you never know what they were recycling at the moment you got yours. Whats the difference? You don't use rubber mulch do you? How about bagged wood mulches or the free stuff from the county dump? Way more toxins there Stan.

Not to give you short shrift here, Stan, but there's a load of information (pro, con and objective) about wood composite and/or plastic composite lumber alternatives out there in Googleland. For starters, you might want to check out some of the appropriate topics on http://www.buildinggreen.com/search/index.cfm?q=lumber

Bearing in mind that "just about anything" is better than pressure-treated CCA, it comes down to the lesser of evils. Sometimes in organic gardening that's the best you can strive to do...and that's okay.

Thanks for the comments. I will do a bit of Googling to see what's out there, I just thought that this was a good place to start. I know that OG has had reports on some products but I wasn't sure about this stuff. It does seem like it ought to be safe, being plastic and wood, but I have no idea about the binder/glue used to hold it all together.