Summary Report for:
51-9199.01 - Recycling and Reclamation Workers
Prepare and sort materials or products for recycling. Identify and remove hazardous substances. Dismantle components of products such as appliances.
This title represents an occupation for which data collection is currently underway.
Tasks | Tools & Technology | Wages & Employment
Tasks
- Cut discarded products, such as appliances and automobiles, into small pieces using saws, blow torches, or other hand or power tools.
- Extract chemicals from discarded appliances, such as air conditioners or refrigerators, using specialized machinery, such as refrigerant recovery equipment.
- Sort materials, such as metals, glass, wood, paper or plastics, into appropriate containers for recycling.
- Collect recyclable materials from curbside for delivery to designated facilities.
- Deposit recoverable materials into chutes or place materials on conveyor belts.
- Dismantle wrecked vehicles by removing parts and labeling and sorting parts into containers.
- Operate automated refuse or manual recycling collection vehicles.
- Operate balers to compress recyclable materials into bundles or bales.
- Operate forklifts, pallet jacks, power lifts, or front-end loaders to load bales, bundles, or other heavy items onto trucks for shipping to smelters or other recycled materials processing facilities.
- Operate processing equipment, such as fiber-sorters and grinders, to sort, crush, or grind recyclable materials.
Tools & Technology
Tools used in this occupation:
| Cargo trucks — Recycling collection trucks; Tractor-trailer trucks |
| Front end loaders — Utility work machines; Wheeled front end loaders |
| Hex keys — Hex wrenches |
| Packaging compactors — Cardboard balers; Horizontal balers; Material compactors |
| Screwdrivers — Phillips head screwdrivers; Straight screwdrivers |
| Sorters — Fiber sorters; Magnetized can sorters |
| Two way radios — Mobile radios |
Technology used in this occupation:
| Calendar and scheduling software — Work scheduling software |
| Spreadsheet software — Microsoft Excel |
| Word processing software — Microsoft Word |
Wages & Employment Trends
National
Median wages data collected from Production Workers, All Other*.
Employment data collected from Production Workers, All Other.
Industry data collected from Production Workers, All Other.
| Median wages (2010) | $13.42 hourly, $27,900 annual |
| Employment (2008) | 282,000 employees |
| Projected growth (2008-2018) | 
Little or no change (-2% to 2%)
|
| Projected job openings (2008-2018) | 70,900 |
| Top industries (2008) |
State & National
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2010 wage data
and 2008-2018 employment projections
.
"Projected growth" represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2008-2018). "Projected job openings" represent openings due to growth and replacement.