Health symptoms, inflammation, and bioaerosol exposure in workers at biowaste pretreatment plants

• Published in: Waste management (Elmsford) 2023-07, Vol.167, p.173-182
• Main Authors: Rasmussen, Pil Uthaug, Frederiksen, Margit W., Carøe, Tanja K., Madsen, Anne Mette
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerosols; Air Microbiology; Air Pollutants, Occupational - analysis; amyloid; Aspergillus niger; Bacteria; bioaerosols; blood serum; C-Reactive Protein; Clara cell protein; CRP; Denmark; dust; Dust - analysis; endotoxins; Endotoxins - analysis; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Fungi; Green jobs; Humans; industry; inflammation; Inflammation - chemically induced; nose; Occupational exposure; Occupational Exposure - analysis; Organic waste; Penicillium digitatum; Plants; questionnaires; species; waste management; Waste recycling; wastes
• ISSN: 0956-053X; 1879-2456
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2023.05.042

•Elevated levels of bacteria, fungi, and endotoxin in biowaste pretreatment plants.•Positive association between anaerobic bacteria and hsCRP and SAA inflammatory markers.•Associations (+ and -) between common fungal species and inflammatory markers.•Questionnaire answers indicate problems of the nose for workers in production area.•Work at biowaste pretreatment plants may affect workers’ health negatively. Biowaste pretreatment plants have been built within the last years in Denmark in order to recycle pre-sorted biowaste from houses, restaurants, and industry. We investigated the association between exposure and health at six biowaste pretreatment plants (visited twice) across Denmark. We measured the personal bioaerosol exposure, took blood samples, and administered a questionnaire. Thirty-one persons participated, 17 of them twice, resulting in 45 bioaerosol samples, 40 blood samples, and questionnaire answers from 21 persons. We measured exposure to bacteria, fungi, dust, and endotoxin, the total inflammatory potential of the exposures, and serum levels of the inflammatory markers serum amyloid A (SAA), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and human club cell protein (CC16). Higher exposures to fungi and endotoxin were found for workers with tasks inside the production area compared to workers with main tasks in the office area. A positive association was found between the concentration of anaerobic bacteria and hsCRP and SAA, whereas bacteria and endotoxin were inversely associated with hsCRP and SAA. A positive association between hsCRP and the fungal species Penicillium digitatum and P. camemberti were found, whereas an inverse association between hsCRP and Aspergillus niger and P. italicum were found. Staff with tasks inside the production area reported more symptoms of the nose than those working in the office area. To conclude, our results indicate that workers with tasks inside the production area are exposed to elevated levels of bioaerosols, and that this may affect workers’ health negatively.