Untersuchungen zur mikrobiellen Luftbelastung in 32 Wertstoffsortieranlagen

Workers in the waste disposal and recycling industry may be particularly exposed to biological working agents (mould fungi, bacteria). This is not least true for workplaces in waste sorting plants where packaging materials (waste collected within the so-called DSD, German dual system, identified by a green label, Gruner Punkt) are manually sorted according to material categories. The Berufsgenossenschaftliches Institut fur Arbeitssicherheit - BIA, in cooperation with the BG for registered users of vehicles, the BG for the wholesale and warehousing industry and the BG for health service and social welfare work, carried out microbiological measurements at workplaces in waste sorting plants with the aim to assess workplace atmosphere in terms of microbiological pollution. The investigations carried out in 32 companies focused in particular on manual sorting workplaces, on delivery and charging areas. After excluding the two companies with the highest and lowest measuring results, the following arithmetic means were calculated for mould fungi concentrations at different workplaces: 6.3x10 5 CFU/m 3 air for sorting cabins; 1.5x10 6 CFU/m 3 air for delivery areas. In 13 sorting cabins mould concentrations turned out to be above 5x10 4 CFU/m 3 air. All other plants were almost equally distributed over the remaining concentration range, with nine companies achieving values below 5x10 5 CFU/m 3 air. Air quality in the cabins is largely dependent on whether or there is a ventilation system, and if so, how the latter is designed and installed. Efficient germ reduction can also be achieved by all kinds of measures which help minimise dust emission and dust spreading into other workplaces. A good hygiene and cleaning system is equally efficient. At workplaces where such measures have a limited effect, other solutions must be found (e.g. automatic opening of refuse collection). The results gathered in the context of these investigations will be discussed against the background of occupational health and safety regulations for companies in the waste disposal and recycling industry. In addition, the study helped accumulate large quantities of data relating to microbiological workplace exposure, which are all based on the same standardised measuring method and on analytical results from only one laboratory. It was thus possible not only to assess workplace exposure in waste sorting plants and optimise the measuring approach (measuring parameters, measuring strategy), but also to gain basic knowledge which is important for the determination of workplace exposure to biological working agents (microorganisms).