An Assessment of Dust, Endotoxin, and Microorganism Exposure during Waste Collection and Sorting

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess inhalation exposure to dust, endotoxin, and microorganisms (including viable bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria [GNB], and fungi) during waste collection and sorting; to identify factors affecting this exposure; and to estimate the gastrointestinal exposure to microorganisms. A total of 48 or 49 workers involved in collecting and sorting waste from households or the street were studied. Each worker carried two personal samplers in which filters were placed in the breathing zone for estimation of inhalation exposure. To assess the possibility of gastrointestinal exposure, microorganisms on the workers' faces were collected before and after work and compared with those collected from office workers. Inhalation exposure levels were categorized according to job title, waste type handled, and working conditions and were compared using analysis of variance. Multiple regression models were developed to identify those factors that substantially affected inhalation exposure. The average exposure level to total dust was 0.9 mg/m 3 (range ϭ 0.05 to 4.51 mg/m 3 ), and the average exposure to endotoxin was 1123 EU/m 3 . The average respective exposure levels to bacteria, GNB, and fungi each exceeded 10 4 colony forming units (CFU)/m 3 . The multiple regression models found several factors that significantly explained the variation in levels of inhalation exposure to endotoxin and microorganisms; namely, sex (dust, bacteria, and GNB), job title (GNB and fungi), collection day (dust, bacteria, and GNB), temperature (endotoxin and GNB), humidity (endotoxin and fungi), and region (endotoxin) were significantly associated with exposure to these agents. In addition, the workers' faces were highly contaminated with microorganisms. In conclusion, inhalation exposure to endotoxin and microorganisms was high during waste collection and sorting, which may place workers at risk of developing various health problems, including respiratory complaints.

Exposure to airborne fungi during sorting of recyclable plastics in waste treatment facilities

“…The overall measured exposure of employees to airborne fungi was more or less comparable to that reported in studies from similar waste treatment facilities [4,[6][7][8][9]14,15,24]. Nevertheless, comparing the results of these studies is complicated due to the different sampling methods, sample processing applied and other sources of variation (see Černá et al [17], Eduarda and Heederik [25] for discussion of the problem).…”

“…Waste sorting facilities represent one such working environment since waste in sorting facilities is frequently contaminated by organic residues that serve as a nutrient substrate to numerous microorganisms. Fungi make up an important part of these microorganisms and multitude of their mycelial fragments and other dispersal particles may be released during waste handling into the working environment [4].…”

Passive Release of Fungal Spores from Synthetic Solid Waste Surfaces

“…Measurements in the vicinity of several outdoor sources suggest release from specific sources such as composting (Lavoie et al, 2006;Taha et al, 2006;Coccia et al, 2010), municipal solid waste processing (Wouters et al, 2006;Park et al, 2011;Vilavert et al, 2012), and wastewater treatment facilities (Karra and Katsivela, 2007;Grisoli et al, 2009). Some of the dominant microbial species observed in ambient air have been Penicillium spp., Aspergillus spp.…”

Characteristics of Respirable Elemental Carbon (EC) Exposures of Household Waste Collectors

“…The source-separated biodegradable domestic waste fraction is supposed to be contained in degradable plastic bags and gathered by waste collectors. Recyclable and biodegradable wastes from households are collected separately at designated points on specific dates, loaded into vehicles, transported to another nearby point and finally transferred to the final destination for further treatment by household waste collectors (Park et al, 2011). Trucks burning diesel fuel are the most commonly used vehicles for the collection of wastes from large apartment complexes.…”