Dataset Information

Health Assessment of Electronic Waste Workers in Chile: Participant Characterization.

ABSTRACT: Little research has been done to evaluate the occupational health of electronic waste (e-waste) recycling workers in Latin America. The objective of this study was to complete comprehensive health evaluations on e-waste recycling workers in Chile and to compare those that work in informal (i.e., independent) to those that work in formal (i.e., established company) settings. A cross-sectional study in the summer of 2017 recruited 78 informal recycling workers from two cities and 15 formal e-waste recycling workers from a single recycling facility to assess exposures and health outcomes. Participants completed a health questionnaire and underwent a full health assessment. Herein, only health questionnaire data are reported. Participants were primarily male, middle-aged, married with children, and had worked in e-waste recycling for an average of 12 years. Participants generally reported good health status, and their prevalence of chronic diseases was comparable to national rates. Workers frequently reported exposures to several occupational stressors, including noise and insufficient income, as well as other mental health stressors. Occupational injuries were commonly reported and use of safety equipment was low. Only a few significant differences, generally of a rather small magnitude, were found between informal and formal workers. In conclusion, from survey data, we did not identify major risks to health among e-waste workers, and only minor differences between workers in informal and formal settings.

SUBMITTER: Yohannessen K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6388190 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Health Assessment of Electronic Waste Workers in Chile: Participant Characterization.

Yohannessen Karla K Pinto-Galleguillos Daniela D Parra-Giordano Denisse D Agost Amaranta A Valdés Macarena M Smith Lauren M LM Galen Katherine K Arain Aubrey A Rojas Felipe F Neitzel Richard L RL Ruiz-Rudolph Pablo P

International journal of environmental research and public health 20190129 3

Little research has been done to evaluate the occupational health of electronic waste (e-waste) recycling workers in Latin America. The objective of this study was to complete comprehensive health evaluations on e-waste recycling workers in Chile and to compare those that work in informal (i.e., independent) to those that work in formal (i.e., established company) settings. A cross-sectional study in the summer of 2017 recruited 78 informal recycling workers from two cities and 15 formal e-waste ...[more]

PMID: 30700055

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Project description:Electronic waste (e-waste) generation has been growing in volume worldwide, and the diversity of its material composition is increasing. Sustainable management of this material is critical to achieving a circular-economy and minimizing environmental and public health risks. This study's objective was to investigate the use of pyrolysis as a possible technique to recover valuable materials and energy from different components of e-waste as an alternative approach for limiting their disposal to landfills. The study includes investigating the potential environmental impact of thermal processing of e-waste. The mass loss and change in e-waste chemicals during pyrolysis were also considered. The energy recovery from pyrolysis was made in a horizontal tube furnace under anoxic and isothermal conditions of selected temperatures of 300 °C, 400 °C, and 500 °C. Critical metals that include the rare earth elements and other metals (such as In, Co, Li) and valuable metals (Au, Ag, Pt group) were recovered from electronic components. Pyrolysis produced liquid and gas mixtures of organic compounds that can be used as fuels. Still, the process also emitted particulate matter and semi-volatile organic products, and the remaining ash contained leachable pollutants. Furthermore, toxicity characteristics leaching procedure (TCLP) of e-waste and partly oxidized products were conducted to measure the levels of pollutants leached before and after pyrolysis at selected temperatures. TCLP result revealed the presence of heavy metals like As, Cr, Cd, and Pd. Lead was found at 160 mg/L in PCBs leachate, which exceeded the toxicity characteristics (TC) limit of 5 mg/L. Liquid sample analysis from TCLP also showed the presence of C10-C19 components, including benzene. This study's results contribute to the development of practical recycling alternative approaches that could help reduce health risks and environmental problems and recover materials from e-waste. These results will also help assess the hazard risks that workers are exposed to semi-formal recycling centers.

Project description:BackgroundStudies that use ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) or wearable sensors to track numerous attributes, such as physical activity, sleep, and heart rate, can benefit from reductions in missing data. Maximizing compliance is one method of reducing missing data to increase the return on the heavy investment of time and money into large-scale studies.ObjectiveThis paper aims to identify the extent to which compliance can be prospectively predicted from individual attributes and initial compliance.MethodsWe instrumented 757 information workers with fitness trackers for 1 year and conducted EMAs in the first 56 days of study participation as part of an observational study. Their compliance with the EMA and fitness tracker wearing protocols was analyzed. Overall, 31 individual characteristics (eg, demographics and personalities) and behavioral variables (eg, early compliance and study portal use) were considered, and 14 variables were selected to create beta regression models for predicting compliance with EMAs 56 days out and wearable compliance 1 year out. We surveyed study participation and correlated the results with compliance.ResultsOur modeling indicates that 16% and 25% of the variance in EMA compliance and wearable compliance, respectively, could be explained through a survey of demographics and personality in a held-out sample. The likelihood of higher EMA and wearable compliance was associated with being older (EMA: odds ratio [OR] 1.02, 95% CI 1.00-1.03; wearable: OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.04), speaking English as a first language (EMA: OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.05-1.80; wearable: OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.05-1.85), having had a wearable before joining the study (EMA: OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.04-1.51; wearable: OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.23-1.83), and exhibiting conscientiousness (EMA: OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.04-1.51; wearable: OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.14-1.58). Compliance was negatively associated with exhibiting extraversion (EMA: OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.64-0.85; wearable: OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.57-0.78) and having a supervisory role (EMA: OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.54-0.79; wearable: OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.54-0.81). Furthermore, higher wearable compliance was negatively associated with agreeableness (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.56-0.83) and neuroticism (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.73-0.98). Compliance in the second week of the study could help explain more variance; 62% and 66% of the variance in EMA compliance and wearable compliance, respectively, was explained. Finally, compliance correlated with participants' self-reflection on the ease of participation, usefulness of our compliance portal, timely resolution of issues, and compensation adequacy, suggesting that these are avenues for improving compliance.ConclusionsWe recommend conducting an initial 2-week pilot to measure trait-like compliance and identify participants at risk of long-term noncompliance, performing oversampling based on participants' individual characteristics to avoid introducing bias in the sample when excluding data based on noncompliance, using an issue tracking portal, and providing special care in troubleshooting to help participants maintain compliance.

Project description:Rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) and lithium-polymer (Li-poly) batteries have recently become dominant in consumer electronic products because of advantages associated with energy density and product longevity. However, the small size of these batteries, the high rate of disposal of consumer products in which they are used, and the lack of uniform regulatory policy on their disposal means that lithium batteries may contribute substantially to environmental pollution and adverse human health impacts due to potentially toxic materials. In this research, we used standardized leaching tests, life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA), and hazard assessment models to evaluate hazardous waste classification, resource depletion potential, and toxicity potentials of lithium batteries used in cellphones. Our results demonstrate that according to U.S. federal regulations, defunct Li-ion batteries are classified hazardous due to their lead (Pb) content (average 6.29 mg/L; ? = 11.1; limit 5). However, according to California regulations, all lithium batteries tested are classified hazardous due to excessive levels of cobalt (average 163,544 mg/kg; ? = 62,897; limit 8000), copper (average 98,694 mg/kg; ? = 28,734; limit 2500), and nickel (average 9525 mg/kg; ? = 11,438; limit 2000). In some of the Li-ion batteries, the leached concentrations of chromium, lead, and thallium exceeded the California regulation limits. The environmental impact associated with resource depletion and human toxicity is mainly associated with cobalt, copper, nickel, thallium, and silver, whereas the ecotoxicity potential is primarily associated with cobalt, copper, nickel, thallium, and silver. However, the relative contribution of aluminum and lithium to human toxicity and ecotoxicity could not be estimated due to insufficient toxicity data in the models. These findings support the need for stronger government policy at the local, national, and international levels to encourage recovery, recycling, and reuse of lithium battery materials.

Dataset Information

Health Assessment of Electronic Waste Workers in Chile: Participant Characterization.

Publications

Health Assessment of Electronic Waste Workers in Chile: Participant Characterization.

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