108 Workplace Exposure to Ultrafine Particles, Dust, and Chemicals During Plastic Production with Recycled Plastics

Abstract

Abstract The plastics industry is a major contributor to the world economy, and in 2019 alone, there were some 480 million metric tons of plastic produced worldwide. Although a great deal of attention has been given to measuring and understanding the extent of plastic in the environment and its associated human exposure, much less is known about the human exposure to plastics during its production. The aim of this study is to characterize in detail the particulate matter (PM) emitted from various processes involved in the manufacturing and recycling of plastics. Here we report our findings from an initial campaign carried out at a Danish plastics factory. Online instruments were used to determine the particle number and mass concentrations for particles in the range of 10nm to 10µm, over the course of five hours, at both near- and far-field positions with respect to activities associated with the processing of plastics, including extruding, thermoforming, mixing, crushing, and rolling. For fine particles (<300nm), the average total particle number concentrations associated with these activities were 3.3x104, 4.0x103, 2.8x104, 3.5x104, and 6.9x104 #/cm3, respectively. Respirable dust concentrations were 13, 7, 9, 7 (calculated), and 12 µg/m3, respectively, and total dust concentrations were similar or slightly higher. These data suggest that the principal contributions to human exposure in the facility are fine and ultrafine particles. In addition to the real-time data and mass concentrations, samples are also analyzed for elemental composition and plastics. This research was supported by FFIKA, a grant from the Danish government.