🚀 go-pugleaf

  Here's an interesting one.... recycling and composting can cause
serious health problems. I don't recall our local enviornmentalists
warning us about this when they started the recycling tax, oh I mean
mandated "curbside recycling fee" and forced us to pay it on the
water bill.
  I recycle every week, but you would think those encouraging
recycling and composting would put some kind of warnings in with
the water bill.
  "Warning  - recycling can be hazardous to your health."


   BBC News Online
   Wednesday, 1 March, 2000, 19:02 GMT 

   Recycling health warning
   
   Kitchen Microbes can be released into the kitchen

   Recycling household waste could be bad for your health, scientists
   have claimed.
   Rubbish bins containing organic leftovers such as banana skins, potato
   peelings and apple cores release far higher numbers of potentially
   harmful bacteria and moulds into the kitchen than bins containing
   mixed garbage, say Dutch researchers.
   These include substances known to aggravate common respiratory
   ailments, such as asthma.
   A team from Wageningen University analysed household dust from 99
   Dutch households.
   
   There were loads of complaints about the smell from organic bins, and
   some people with respiratory illnesses said their symptoms got worse
   
   
   New Scientist magazine reports that their research followed efforts by
   the Dutch government to encourage people to separate out their organic
   waste for composting.
   Lead researcher Dick Heederik said: "There were loads of complaints
   about the smell from organic bins, and some people with respiratory
   illnesses said their symptoms got worse."
   Dr Heederik said microorganisms thrive in the humid conditions created
   by rotting organic waste.
   The team tested for cell fragments called endotoxins, which are
   released when bacteria die.
   If people are exposed to these fragments in sufficiently high
   concentrations they can become breathless, cough and develop flu-like
   symptoms.
   The researchers also screened for mould components, including
   beta-glucans-sugars found in the coatings of numerous fungi.
   Beta-glucans have been shown to cause lung and throat inflammation.
   In homes where organic bins regularly remained unemptied for a week or
   more, levels of the bacterial endotoxins were three times as high as
   in homes with unseparated waste.
   Levels of the mould materials were up to eight times as high.
   Dr Heederik said the solution was either to keep the bins outside, or
   to empty them more regularly.