Proper disposal of PPE — Individual Protective Equipment Contaminated with Chemicals

Senac National Service of Commercial Learning- SP, Brazil

Abstract: Regulatory Standard 6 (NR6) defines the PPE — Individual Protection Equipment as any device or product, for individual use used by the worker, for the protection of risks that may threaten safety and health at work. These PPE after use should be disposed of properly as it may contaminate the environment. The objective of this work is to verify through a licensed company for hazardous waste management the number of companies that send their contaminated PPE with chemical products and the type of destination given to this waste. The research was carried out in the city of Ribeirão Preto with a waste management company licensed by CETESB. A questionnaire was sent to the company surveyed, it was verified that from one to ten generating companies in the region send their PPE contaminated with chemicals and that the destination is an option of the client to agree with the costs generated by each type of final disposal, being the most economical class I landfill destination is carried out by 80% of the generating companies. The 20% of the generating companies cost the final destination of their EPI contaminated with chemicals to the licensed co-processing company that are 300 kilometros. We conclude inspection measures to companies that generate these types of waste to verify the real destination of PPE contaminated with chemicals, as well as measures that accelerate the installation of other types of final disposal processes such as incinerators and co-processing in the city of Ribeirão Preto.