Uploaded August 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
While recycling is good for the environment, it can be dangerous for workers reports the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The agency goes on to state that this is in part due to the fact that certain materials that are recycled or reused, such as scrap metal, electronics, batteries, and used oil and other chemicals, have materials that directly pose hazards to workers.
The exposure risks are significant to the countless workers across the globe that are involved with recycling and reuse activities involving the hundreds of millions of tons of waste recycled each year.
Some of these hazards are quite specific to the materials being handled and processed. For example, OSHA reports that composting and other activities to recycle organic material can create hazardous environments which can be fatal to workers who are not aware of the potential dangers. In particular, composting facilities often have confined space hazards, which may have respiratory hazards such as hydrogen sulfide or carbon monoxide gases, or other gases that may displace the oxygen in the area. Other inhalation risks include exposure to mold and particulate matter (PM) which could cause or exacerbate occupational asthma, allergies, hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) and other respiratory conditions.
Recycling electronics, batteries, scrap metal, used oils and various chemicals can also expose workers to hazardous substances. These could include ammonia and other refrigerants, capacitors containing PCBs, mercury, asbestos, synthetic mineral fibers, dioxins, lead, cadmium, nickel and other toxic metals. Workers could also be exposed to a myriad of other hazardous chemicals, combustible dusts and even components containing radioactive substances.
These are just a few of the many potential exposure risks that workers involved in recycling and reuse operations could encounter. To learn more about this or other occupational, industrial hygiene, indoor air quality, environmental, health or safety issues, please visit the websites shown below.
Clark Seif Clark csceng.com
EMSL Analytical, Inc. emsl.com
LA Testing latesting.com
Zimmetry Environmental zimmetry.com
Healthy Indoors Magazine healthyindoors.com
While recycling is good for the environment, it can be dangerous for workers reports the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The agency goes on to state that this is in part due to the fact that certain materials that are recycled or reused, such as scrap metal, electronics, batteries, and used oil and other chemicals, have materials that directly pose hazards to workers.
The exposure risks are significant to the countless workers across the globe that are involved with recycling and reuse activities involving the hundreds of millions of tons of waste recycled each year.
Some of these hazards are quite specific to the materials being handled and processed. For example, OSHA reports that composting and other activities to recycle organic material can create hazardous environments which can be fatal to workers who are not aware of the potential dangers. In particular, composting facilities often have confined space hazards, which may have respiratory hazards such as hydrogen sulfide or carbon monoxide gases, or other gases that may displace the oxygen in the area. Other inhalation risks include exposure to mold and particulate matter (PM) which could cause or exacerbate occupational asthma, allergies, hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) and other respiratory conditions.
Recycling electronics, batteries, scrap metal, used oils and various chemicals can also expose workers to hazardous substances. These could include ammonia and other refrigerants, capacitors containing PCBs, mercury, asbestos, synthetic mineral fibers, dioxins, lead, cadmium, nickel and other toxic metals. Workers could also be exposed to a myriad of other hazardous chemicals, combustible dusts and even components containing radioactive substances.
These are just a few of the many potential exposure risks that workers involved in recycling and reuse operations could encounter. To learn more about this or other occupational, industrial hygiene, indoor air quality, environmental, health or safety issues, please visit the websites shown below.
Clark Seif Clark csceng.com
EMSL Analytical, Inc. emsl.com
LA Testing latesting.com
Zimmetry Environmental zimmetry.com
Healthy Indoors Magazine healthyindoors.com
