Workers' Voices: A Case Study of a Multi-Organizational Approach to Improving Hazards in the Recycling Industry

Although federal and state regulations exist for many hazards in the waste and recycling industry, workers often face barriers which make the enforcement of such protections a challenge. Materials recovery facilities (MRFs) receive and sort through the municipal mixed waste stream, a task that requires the manual separation of recyclable from non-recyclable waste. In addition to the inherent hazards associated with this work, employees at these facilities are often especially vulnerable as temporary, immigrant, non-English speaking and non-union workers. Such workers often lack knowledge of their rights as employees, are provided with little to no training, and have inadequate personal protective equipment. Highlighting a case study from an MRF in Los Angeles, this presentation will describe the role of a multi-organizational effort to uncover and mitigate the occupational hazards in the sanitation industry, at both the grassroots and the policy levels. Embedded in the context of a unionization effort and Los Angeles' "Zero Waste" goal, issues of worker health and safety have surfaced as a key concern for both labor and environmental advocates. Through a partnership of UCLA-LOSH, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, SoCalCOSH, the Teamsters union, and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, workers have become actively engaged in the Cal/OSHA complaint process, participated in health and safety trainings, spoke publicly about their experiences, and are involved in a broader push to improve protections for workers in the sanitation industry and to increase government agency responsiveness to workers' needs.