Estudo da exposição de trabalhadores ao material particulado e bioaerossóis em cooperativa de processamento de materiais recicláveis

Abstract

The environmental quality of materials recycling facilities (MRF) may be compromised by the presence of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and airborne bioaerosols. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the exposure to these pollutants of workers of a MRF in Londrina, Paraná. In addition, to infer about the existence of association of this exposure with levels of blood inflammatory markers of these workers compared to a control population of the Federal University of Technology – Paraná (UTFPR). Questionnaires and blood samples were collected in November 2018 with the participation of 64 volunteers, 40 MRF workers (exposed group) and 24 UTFPR students and employees (control group). PM and bioaerosol samplings occurred in the morning and afternoon from February 18 to 22, 2019 at four sampling sites: in a classroom (P1) and outdoors (P2) at UTFPR, in one of the waste processing sheds (P3) and in the outdoor environment (P4) of the MRF. PM sampling was performed with the Met One 831 mass monitor at a flow rate of 2.83 L.min-1 and for 60 minutes at each site. For the collection of bioaerosols the passive settle plate method (first stage) was used with an exposure time of the agar Petri dishes (in triplicate) of 10 minutes at each sampling site. Its concentration in Colony Forming Units per cubic meter of air (CFU.m-3) was calculated by the ratios between active and passive sampling (second stage). Then, Gram staining and slide culture techniques were performed for the isolated colonies of bacteria and fungi, respectively. P3 is the site with the highest air contamination with the highest average values of 699.3 µg.m-3 for PM10, 29.3 µg.m-3 for PM2.5 and 1,838.5 CFU.m-3 for bacteria in the morning. For fungi P2 was the place with the highest average concentration of 4,285.0 CFU.m-3 in the afternoon. The ratios of indoor to outdoor (I/O) concentrations indicated the large influence of indoor sources on the results of PM2.5, PM4.0, PM10, and bacteria in P3. Gram-positive bacteria and Aspergillus spp. fungi were predominant among the isolated colonies. The results of the questionnaires showed that the exposed group is the most affected by several symptoms and health problems, however, no health risks were found among blood variables and the significant exposure to pollutants of the MRF workers. Two assumptions for these results are the hygiene hypothesis and the release of soluble receptors, nevertheless further analyses are necessary for more conclusive results.