Prevalence of Respiratory Health Symptoms among Landfill Waste Recyclers in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa

Tlotleng, Nonhlanhla; Kootbodien, Tahira; Wilson, Kerry; Made, Felix; Mathee, Angela; Ntlebi, Vusi; Kgalamono, Spo; Mokone, Moses; Preez, Karen Du; Naicker, Nisha

doi:10.3390/ijerph16214277

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Of the 36 micro-level research studies, the majority were studies conducted in LMICs (29, 80.6%). Diverse types of informal workers were studied in LMICs, including waste workers [ 16 – 21 ], trash pickers [ 22 ], clay artisans [ 23 ], taxi drivers [ 24 ], artisanal and small-scale gold miners [ 25 ], informal commerce workers [ 26 ], female beer promoters [ 27 ], domestic workers [ 28 ], informal fisheries [ 29 ], and informal workers in the construction and manufacturing industry [ 30 – 37 ]. The remaining micro-level studies were conducted in LMICs [ 38 – 43 ] and HIC contexts [ 9 ], rather than focusing on a specific type of informal workers, and analyzed survey data or injury reports to examine the difference in health outcomes between workers in informal and formal employment.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How does informal employment affect health and health equity? Emerging gaps in research from a scoping review and modified e-Delphi survey

Lee

Ruggiero

2022

Int J Equity Health

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Introduction This article reports on the results from a scoping review and a modified e-Delphi survey with experts which aimed to synthesize existing knowledge and identify research gaps on the health and health equity implications of informal employment in both low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income countries (HICs). Methods The scoping review included peer-reviewed articles published online between January 2015 and December 2019 in English. Additionally, a modified e-Delphi survey with experts was conducted to validate our findings from the scoping review and receive feedback on additional research and policy gaps. We drew on micro- and macro-level frameworks on employment relations and health inequities developed by the Employment Conditions Knowledge Network to synthesize and analyze existing literature. Results A total of 540 articles were screened, and 57 met the eligibility criteria for this scoping review study, including 36 on micro-level research, 19 on macro-level research, and 13 on policy intervention research. Most of the included studies were conducted in LMICs while the research interest in informal work and health has increased globally. Findings from existing literature on the health and health equity implications of informal employment are mixed: informal employment does not necessarily lead to poorer health outcomes than formal employment. Although all informal workers share some fundamental vulnerabilities, including harmful working conditions and limited access to health and social protections, the related health implications vary according to the sub-groups of workers (e.g., gender) and the country context (e.g., types of welfare state or labour market). In the modified e-Delphi survey, participants showed a high level of agreement on a lack of consensus on the definition of informal employment, the usefulness of the concept of informal employment, the need for more comparative policy research, qualitative health research, and research on the intersection between gender and informal employment. Conclusions Our results clearly identify the need for more research to further understand the various mechanisms through which informal employment affects health in different countries and for different groups of informal workers.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How does informal employment affect health and health equity? Emerging gaps in research from a scoping review and modified e-Delphi survey

Lee

Ruggiero

2022

Int J Equity Health

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“…* Specifically they were asked whether they handled household detergents, paint and pesticide containers. Tlotleng et al (2019) also reported a high prevalence of interaction between waste pickers on South African dumpsites and chemical substances, finding a statistically significant (p = 0.001) correlation between this exposure and respiratory symptoms ( (Jusko et al, 2008;Koller et al, 2004;Schnaas et al, 2006). It is noted that teenagers are considered as particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning, because they highly absorb it (Grigg, 2004;Safi et al, 2006).…”

Section: Risk Characterisation For Biological Hazards On Land Disposamentioning

confidence: 96%

From dumpsites to engineered landfills: A systematic review of risks to occupational and public health

Maalouf¹,

Cook²,

Velis³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Disposal on land has persisted as the most predominant form of waste disposal for millennia and despite advances in modern engineered landfills, large quantities (405 Mt y-1) of collected municipal solid waste (MSW) are still deposited and concentrated in open, uncontrolled dumpsites throughout low- and middle-income countries (LIMICs) worldwide – a key form of waste mismanagement. These pose major threats to the health and safety of surrounding populations and mainly waste pickers who across the Global South target dumpsites to salvage and recycle under minimal protection measures. Here, we conducted an adapted PRISMA systematic review, distilling over 3,000 papers into 40 core sources from 22 countries, to critically assess the evidence on the associated risks. We identified prevalent hazard-pathway-receptor combinations and subsequently scored, compared and ranked the relative risk of exposure to harm experienced by various actors in land disposal sites. Our assessment indicates high risk levels experienced through interaction with medical waste, emissions from waste combustion, and critically through the fatal risk of waste slope failure, claiming the lives of at least (on average) of 34 people per year since 1992. Despite the strong anecdotal signals on the generic nature of the health and safety challenges at hand, many of the sources lack critical information with which to determine and link causality of health effects with the existence, or even exposure to emissions or other hazards. Yet, our critical analysis clearly demonstrates an unacceptable potential for damage to human health and safety; alerting us on the need to close, and immediately manage risks at dumpsites, preventing harm to some of the worlds’ poorest inhabitants. Our aspiration is that quantification and mitigation of risks from dumpsites attracts substantial and scientifically robust efforts.

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“…Heavy metals and metalloids are the most stabile pollutants in the environment. Mostly all metals and metalloids with different amount are hazardous, which not only endangers for the environment but also affect human health [9]. Heavy metals and metalloids are washed from waste…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Level of Pollution on Surrounding Environment from Landfill Aftercare

Bazienė

Tetsman

Albrektienė

2020

IJERPH

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This work examines how the pollution from landfill aftercare effect the surrounding area and water basins. The subject of the study was a closed landfill where waste was disposed of without any accounting and operation of the landfill. During the study, soil, surface water, and sediment samples were taken over a two-year period. The data obtained compared with the maximum allowable concentrations established in the Northern part of Lithuania. The water sampling sites were selected taking into account the direction of the water flow, and the landfill was found to influence the water quality. Within 500 meters before the landfill, heavy metals and metalloid concentrations did not exceed the maximum allowable concentrations (Pb ≤ 20 µg/L; Ni ≤ 40 µg/L; Cr ≤ 100 µg/L; Cu ≤ 100 µg/L and As ≤ 20 µg/L). Soil and water sediment contamination factor and contamination level were determined for each metal and metalloid individually, which showed that as a single chemical element and its compounds none of them pose any danger to the environment. A different situation can be seen when calculating the total level of contamination, taking into account all pollutants classified as very hazardous, Z d > 10. The results showed that monitoring (of surface water, including soil) and investigations, helping to reduce negative environmental impact, should be continued in the closed landfill. mass and accumulate in the environment, everywhere: in soils, surface water and in basin sediment. The greatest danger is the possibility that a metal through the food chain can get in the human body [10]. The accumulation of heavy metal and metalloid in soil severely affects the bioaccumulation processes [11][12][13][14][15]. Local people in different areas cultivate vegetables, grazing cattle a nearby landfill maintenance and are threatened by heavy metal and metalloids exposure. This work examines how pollution from closed landfills affect the closed territories and surface water pools. The heavy metals and metalloids are the pollutants in the environment [16][17][18], which can be found in soil and water and sediments. Five heavy metals and metalloid have found near landfill, which are arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and lead (Pb) [19][20][21][22][23]. The same chemical elements, which may pose the greatest environmental and human health hazards have been researched in this study. The main aim of the research is to identify whether there is an environmental impact on surrounding area of landfill aftercare. The research done with three segments of environment: soil, water and sediments heavy metals and metalloid accumulation measurement and analysis.

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Prevalence of Respiratory Health Symptoms among Landfill Waste Recyclers in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa

Cited by 15 publications

References 16 publications

How does informal employment affect health and health equity? Emerging gaps in research from a scoping review and modified e-Delphi survey

How does informal employment affect health and health equity? Emerging gaps in research from a scoping review and modified e-Delphi survey

From dumpsites to engineered landfills: A systematic review of risks to occupational and public health

Level of Pollution on Surrounding Environment from Landfill Aftercare

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