Air quality and worker health effects in materials recovery facilities (MRFs) in England and Wales.

Abstract

There are varying types of Materials Recycling Facilities (MRFs, also known as Materials Recovery Facilities, or Materials Recycling Factories) in operation in the UK and throughout Europe. A full outline of the various types of MRF operations is given by the Institute of Wastes Management (IWM 2000). This review concentrates on MRFs used to sort and process sourcesegregated household and commercial waste, the most common type. A MRF that deals with household and commercial waste is defined as a central operation where source-segregated, dry, recyclable materials are sorted, mechanically or manually, to market specifications for processing into secondary materials