Economy
How Cities Can Make Work Safer for Recycling Workers
A new report outlines the dangers posed to these workers, and the ways cities can make the job less hazardous.
My CityLab colleague Vicky Gan recently pointed out all the ways that we’ve been doing recycling wrong—necessary information given that this has consequences, particularly for recycling-plant workers. For instance, tossing plastic bags in recycling bins causes “a huge hassle” on the recycling plant’s end, writes Gan, because they often end up jamming up the machinery that sorts and processes the materials.
These plastic jam-ups create one of the top nine hazardous conditions faced by recycling workers, according to a new report from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and the Partnership for Working Families.