Health and safety issues in post-consumer aerosol container recycling

Post-consumer aerosol cans are being recovered for recycling through materi al reclamation facilities (MRFs). This paper reviews current practice on th e basis of the published reports and the experience of MRFs. The general co nclusion of the risk assessments reviewed is that although potential hazard s arise from flammable or harmful residual contents, empty aerosol containe rs may be included in the domestic post-consumer waste recycling stream pro vided a number of basic precautions are taken to control risks to an accept able level. Principle amongst these precautions is that only empty aerosols derived from the domestic waste stream should be handled by a MRF and thes e should not be segregated from the steel and aluminium streams. (C) 2001 E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.