Waste management and recycling

Where are the hazards?

Many waste management activities bring potential exposure to a wide range of respiratory or breathing hazards. Such activities include handling waste and recyclables during collection and sorting activities (eg at kerbside and material recycling facilities), processing activities (eg composting, paper, plastic, metal and waste electronic and electrical equipment recycling) and, ultimately, disposal (eg landfill).

Airborne dust and fumes from waste material may contain various metal, wood, plastics and chemical pollutants. Micro-organisms may grow quickly on organic wastes such as vegetation and food waste, and become airborne (called bio-aerosols) when waste is collected and handled, and especially when composted.

What are the risks?

Dust and fumes can cause long-term health problems such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

How to control

To minimise dust, fumes and bio-aerosols entering the lungs, a suitable and sufficient assessment should be carried out to eliminate or reduce the risk of exposure (eg through identification and adoption of suitable control measures). The assessment should be reviewed at appropriate intervals or if there are changes to the process that indicate the risk of exposure will change. 

Control measures adopted might include:

  • safe systems of work, eg during waste collection activities, employees should only open sacks and containers when they are being emptied and, as far as possible, keep away from the tipping point
  • segregation, eg during bulk waste handling and at composting facilities, identify dusty operations and limit the number of employees working for long periods in those areas 
  • dust and fume suppression, eg engineering or ventilation controls, damping down
  • provision of respiratory protective equipment

Link URLs in this page

  1. Lung diseasehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/index.htm
  2. Lung disease basicshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/about.htm
  3. Industry respiratory health links: Alpha A-Zhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/a-z.htm
  4. Silicosishttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/silicosis.htm
  5. Pneumoconiosishttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/pneumoconiosis.htm
  6. Extrinsic allergic alveolitishttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/extrinsic-allergic-alveolitis.htm
  7. Getting helphttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/help.htm
  8. Specialist serviceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/specialist-services.htm
  9. Overview - Resourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/resources.htm
  10. Videoshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/videos.htm
  11. Confined spaces: A brief guide to working safelyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg258.htm
  12. Control of exposure to silica dust: A guide for employeeshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg463.htm
  13. Health surveillance for those exposed to respirable crystalline silica (RCS)https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/healthsurveillance.htm
  14. COSHHhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/index.htm
  15. COSHH Essentialshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/index.htm
  16. Asthmahttps://www.hse.gov.uk/asthma/index.htm
  17. COPDhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/copd/index.htm
  18. Local exhaust ventilationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lev/index.htm
  19. Agriculture workers - Common causes of asthmahttps://www.hse.gov.uk/asthma/agriculture.htm
  20. All you need to know about disposable dust maskshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/dustmasks.htm
  21. Food Industry - Bakery productshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/bakery.htm
  22. Occupational asthma and rhinitis in bakerieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/asthma.htm
  23. Common causes of asthma in bakershttps://www.hse.gov.uk/asthma/bakers.htm
  24. COSHH Essentials in Quarries https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/qyseries.htm
  25. Health surveillance for those exposed to respirable crystalline silica (RCS)https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/g404.pdf
  26. Health and safety in the cement industryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/non-metallic-minerals/concrete.htm
  27. COSHH Essentials series in ceramicshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/crseries.htm
  28. HSE Construction homepagehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/index.htm
  29. Dust control on cut-off saws used for stone or concrete cuttinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/cis54.pdf
  30. Solderers, eg in electronics - common causes of asthmahttps://www.hse.gov.uk/asthma/solderers.htm
  31. Health and safety in the engineering industryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/engineering/index.htm
  32. Engineering workers - Common causes of asthmahttps://www.hse.gov.uk/asthma/engineering.htm
  33. Agriculturehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/index.htm
  34. Dermatitishttps://www.hse.gov.uk/skin/employ/dermatitis.htm
  35. Metalworking fluidshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/metalworking/index.htm
  36. Health and safety in mininghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/mining/index.htm
  37. BK – COSHH essentials in brick and tile making: Silicahttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/bkseries.htm
  38. FD - COSHH essentials in foundries: Silicahttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/fdseries.htm
  39. Molten metals leaflets and guidancehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/moltenmetals/guidance.htm
  40. Controlling airborne contaminants at workhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg258.htm
  41. Molten metal homepagehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/moltenmetals/index.htm
  42. Plastics Info sheet 13 - Controlling fume during plastics processinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ppis13.htm
  43. Plastics Info sheet 14 - Controlling Styrene levelshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ppis14.pdf
  44. List of general publications for the plastics industryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/plastics/publications.htm
  45. Health surveillance for Occupational asthma https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/g402.pdf
  46. Health and safety in the Textiles industryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/textiles/index.htm
  47. Textile Services Associationhttp://www.tsa-uk.org/
  48. Waste management and Recycling Health informationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/waste/health.htm#intro
  49. HSE Waste management and recycling websitehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/waste/index.htm
  50. Recycling biodegradable waste health information https://www.hse.gov.uk/waste/composting.htm

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Updated: 2024-08-08