Report: Recycling worker injury rate is 2x the average rate
A new study by environmental, occupational safety, and community benefits experts in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois School of Public Health finds that recycling work is unnecessarily hazardous to workers’ health and safety. Seventeen American recycling workers died on the job from 2011 to 2013. Recycling workers are more than twice as likely to be injured at work as the average worker.
By ensuring health and safety compliance across the industry, the study’s authors say cities can create good and safe recycling jobs, and they offer concrete policy recommendations for cities.