Salud ocupacional en dos centros de clasificación y acopio de materiales reciclables en el Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2015

How can the health risks be estimated of workers who handle urban solid waste sorting recyclable materials? To answer this question, during 2015, field research was carried out with an ecoepidemiological perspective in two classification and collection centers (one urban and another peri-urban) located in the southern area of the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In order to describe the work process, ethnographic techniques (interviews, participant observation), as well as other projective and body work techniques were utilized to characterize the conditions and environment of this nonclassical type of work using the framework of risks and demands recommended by the International Labor Organization. The demands tend to concentrate on the entry and exit of materials, the risks of the work object on the sorting of the materials, and the biological risks on the work environment. Within the work process, diversity and little planning were found. Therefore, the characterization of working conditions and environment was also an opportunity for reflexivity among workers and researchers regarding the creation and organization of the work environment and the embodiment of illness.