Metals and Particulates Exposure from a Mobile E-Waste Shredding Truck: A Pilot Study

AbstractThe US electronics recycling industry has introduced a novel mobile electronic waste (e-waste) shredding truck service to address increasing needs for secure data destruction of e-waste. These trucks can shred small electronics with data security concerns at remote locations for a wide variety of clients. Shredding jobs usually involve hand-feeding electronic waste (e-waste) for 4 –10 h day−1, 1 –5 days. Shredding of e-waste has been documented as a source of high metal exposures, especially lead and cadmium. However, no studies have been done to assess exposures on mobile e-waste shredding trucks. We conducted a pilot cross-sectional exposure assessment on a mobile e-waste shredding truc k performing a 65-min shredding job (truck back door open and no local exhaust ventilation) in the Greater Boston area in 2019. We collected area air and surface wipe samples for metals along with real-time particulate measurements from different locations. The highest metal air concentrations (e.g. 2.9 µg-lead m−3) were found next and 1.8 m away from the shredder operator inside the semi-trailer. Metal surface contamination was highest near the shredder (e.g. 1190 µg-lead 100 cm−2) and extended to other parts of the truck. Near the shredder, the concentration of ultrafine particles was up to 250 000 particles cm−3 and particulate matter 2.5 mm or less in diameter (PM2.5) was up to 171 µg m−3, and neither returned to background levels after 40 min of inactivity. A di...
Source: Annals of Occupational Hygiene - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research