LAUSR

There has been an increasing interest among occupational hygienists and public health officials in indoor air quality assessment in industrial workplace environments. Exposure to bioaerosols may pose health risks to workers operating in the processing of recycled waste paper. This study was conducted in two waste paper recycling factories. Air sampling of the factory was performed on weekly basis over a period of 3 months employing passive air sampling technique (the settle plates) with standard Petri dishes in which appropriate culture media are used for counting bacteria and fungi in air samples. In addition, metagenome analyses were conducted to obtain more details about the diversity and abundance of bacteria in the investigated factory. Results showed abundant bacterial and fungal counts in the waste paper factory in all the manufacturing stages. In particular, the cutting/shredding unit exhibited high microbiological contamination; thus, corrective measures should be taken in order to achieve better indoor air quality. The most dominant genus detected according to both DGGE sequencing and metagenome analysis was Thermicanus. The dominance of this thermophilic, microaerophilic fermentative species especially during summer season reflects the condition within the factory as well as the source of the recycled paper and the way it has been handled and stored. An air flow ventilation system that prevents contamination from areas where raw waste paper is handled is recommended.