OHS in Recycling Plants: Shredders and Balers

Recycling plant safety: where on the line is the risk?

In a recycling plant, material moves along a line from the receiving area to dispatch, and each station has a different hazard. Building the recycling plant safety plan around this flow is far more useful than a single risk line headed "plant in general". In plants sorting plastics, paper and cardboard, and metal in Bursa and the surrounding provinces, the line is usually as follows:

Process step	Main hazard	Priority measure
Receiving and unloading	Lorry and loader manoeuvres, pedestrians being struck, dust	Separate pedestrian and vehicle routes, banksman, acceptance checks
Pre-sorting	Large metal pieces, glass, sharp waste	Mechanical pre-sorting, heavy gloves, protection up to the arm
Sorting belt	Cuts, needlestick injuries, biological agents, being caught by the belt	Emergency stops along the belt, speed adjustment, hygiene area
Shredder / granulator	Being drawn into the feed opening, ejected parts, noise	Feed guard, lockout-tagout, hearing protection
Baler	Entrapment in the chamber, bales toppling, wire snapping	Door interlock, lockout-tagout, wire tying instructions
Storage and dispatch	Fire, stacks collapsing, forklifts	Stockpile layout, separation distances, hot spot checks

The plant's hazard class is determined by the NACE code of the main activity carried out; if there is more than one main activity at the same plant, the higher class applies. Check your code and the related specialist, physician and training obligations with the OHS obligations calculator; the class should be determined from the current list, not by guesswork.

Sharp and biological waste on the sorting belt

The sorting belt is the plant's most crowded station and the one with the most manual work. Material from mixed household and commercial waste may contain broken glass, metal lids, razor blades, syringes and needles, animal waste and rotten food. The belt worker is therefore exposed to both sharp and biological hazards at the same time.

The Regulation on the Prevention of Risks from Exposure to Biological Agents lists work in waste disposal plants and treatment plants among the activities where exposure to biological agents may occur. Similar exposure occurs on belts where mixed waste is sorted by hand, and it should be addressed as a separate heading in the risk assessment.

Measures to apply on the belt:

Belt speed: The speed is set at a level where workers can see the material and pick it safely. Speed raised under production pressure directly increases cuts and needlestick injuries.
Emergency stop: Along the belt there is an emergency stop device (button or pull-wire) within arm's reach of every worker, and it is tested at the start of each shift.
Gloves and arm protection: Cut-resistant gloves reduce the risk of cuts, but no work glove completely prevents needlestick injuries. So opening suspicious bags and squeezing them are prohibited; bags are opened mechanically or from a distance with a cutting tool.
Hygiene: The eating and smoking area is separated from the belt, with hand washing and separate dirty and clean changing areas. Workwear is not taken home.
Sharps injury procedure: What to do after a needlestick injury is written down; the incident is recorded and assessed by the workplace physician. The workplace physician decides on the need for vaccination based on the risk assessment.

The sorting belt is also a conveyor. According to the table of periodic inspection intervals for work equipment, conveyors are inspected at least once a year unless a standard specifies a shorter period. The inspection should look specifically at whether the nip points at the return drums are guarded.

Entrapment and ejected parts in shredders

Most fatal accidents in shredders and granulators happen not during production but while clearing a blockage. A plastic crate bridging the feed opening, film wrapping around, or a jammed piece of metal leads the operator to intervene by hand or foot. Even if the machine appears to have stopped, the rotor may keep turning under inertia, the hydraulic ram may move unexpectedly, or someone else may start the machine.

Annex I of the Regulation on Health and Safety Requirements for the Use of Work Equipment sets three requirements here: equipment with a risk of contact with moving parts is fitted with guards preventing access to the danger zone (2.8), equipment with a risk of ejected parts has suitable safety devices (2.5), and the stop system also cuts the energy driving the equipment (2.3).

Minimum arrangements for a shredder:

The feed opening is designed with a depth and shape such that an arm cannot reach the rotor; feeding is done by conveyor or loader.
Clearing blockages is governed by a written instruction: the machine is stopped, energy sources are locked out and tagged, and it is verified that the rotor has completely stopped.
A long-handled hook or pushing tool is used to clear blockages; nobody enters the feed opening.
Against the risk of ejected parts, the area around the feed opening is screened with curtains and the operator uses a face shield.
If noise is high, measurements are taken; we plan workplace measurements with authorised laboratories and enter the results in the risk assessment. For measurement and action values, see our article on workplace noise measurement.

Balers: door interlock, chamber and wire tying

Balers compress paper, cardboard, plastic film and PET bottles into transportable bales. On vertical balers, the operator fills the chamber by hand; on horizontal balers, feeding is usually by conveyor. The main hazards are:

Crushing in the chamber: If the chamber door interlock has been disabled, or someone reaches into the chamber with the door open, the descending ram crushes the limb. The baler not moving while the door is open is a basic requirement and should be tested at the start of each shift.
Material jammed in the chamber: Entering the chamber to clear a jam is strictly prohibited. Nobody reaches into the chamber without lockout-tagout.
Wire tying and bale ejection: A taut baling wire whips when it snaps; a bale may topple uncontrollably when ejected. Instructions and eye protection are provided for wire tying, and an exclusion zone is set in the direction of bale ejection.
Stacking: Bales topple when stacked high. Stack height and layout are governed by a written rule, and forklift and pedestrian traffic are separated.

A baler is a hydraulically operated machine. The machine tools table in Annex III lists "certain machine tools" and sets a maximum interval of 1 year for hydraulic presses unless a standard specifies a shorter period. Clarify the scope and frequency of your baler's periodic inspection with the authorised person who will carry it out; testing the door interlock and emergency stop should be fixed items in this inspection throughout the machine's life. For the general logic of guarding systems on different types of press, see our article on press safety.

Fire in recycling plants: stockpiles, batteries and sparks

Recycling fires often start from an overlooked source. Lithium batteries and rechargeable devices mixed into waste can heat up and ignite when crushed in a shredder or compressed in a baler. Large stockpiles of paper, cardboard, plastic and textile bales then allow a fire to grow quickly.

Plan the following steps for fire prevention:

Acceptance checks: Materials such as batteries, accumulators, gas cartridges and aerosol cans are separated at receiving and pre-sorting and kept in a separate, closed container.
Stockpile layout: Stockpile size is limited in the storage area, access and firefighting distances are left between piles, and piles are not placed against building walls or electrical panels.
Hot spot checks: At the end of each shift, the area around the shredder, under belts and new bales are checked visually and, where possible, with a thermal camera. The last round before the plant closes is recorded.
Hot work: Jobs such as changing shredder blades or welding the chassis are subject to a hot work permit; the surroundings are cleaned and a fire watch is left after the work is finished.
Emergency plan: The fire scenario in the storage area, the fire brigade's access route and water sources, and the firefighting team's duties are written into the plan and tested with drills.

Start-of-shift checklist

Have all emergency stop devices on the sorting belt been tested?
Are the shredder feed guard and the baler door interlock working?
Are locks, tags and hook tools ready at the machine?
Are there enough cut-resistant gloves, arm protection, face shields and hearing protection, in the right sizes?
Are the hand washing point, sharps box and first aid cabinet usable?
Has the battery and aerosol separation container been emptied, and are the stockpiles within limits?
Is the previous shift's last fire round recorded?

Matching the items on this list to the lines of the risk assessment is part of our risk assessment work. We carry out site implementation and training as part of our OHS specialist service. For the next steps of material that becomes plastic raw material, see our chemicals and plastics sector page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What gloves should be used on the sorting belt?

Gloves that are cut-resistant and have a suitable gripping surface are chosen; the protection level is set in the risk assessment according to the type of waste. No work glove completely prevents needlestick injuries. So in addition to gloves, working methods are applied that prohibit squeezing bags and reduce handling of suspicious waste.

Is periodic inspection of a baler mandatory?

Periodic inspections of work equipment are carried out under Annex III of the Work Equipment Regulation. For hydraulic presses, the maximum interval is 1 year unless a standard specifies a shorter one. Determine which standard your baler will be inspected against together with the authorised person registered on EKİPNET (the Ministry's register of authorised inspectors).

How is material jammed in a shredder cleared?

The machine is stopped, all energy sources are locked out and tagged, and it is verified that the rotor has completely stopped. The jam is cleared with a long-handled hook or pushing tool; nobody enters the feed opening. This job is not done without written instructions and training.

What is the most common cause of fire in a recycling plant?

Lithium batteries mixed into waste stand out as a source, since they can heat up and ignite when crushed. Separation at receiving, end-of-shift hot spot checks and limiting stockpile size reduce this risk.