Asbestos (asbestos fibres)

Asbestos is a group of naturally occurring fibrous silicate minerals once prized for heat resistance and used in insulation, roofing sheets, brake linings, gaskets and fireproofing. Its microscopic fibres, when inhaled, lodge permanently in the lungs and cause asbestosis (lung scarring), lung cancer and mesothelioma (a cancer of the lung lining for which asbestos is the near-exclusive cause). India's emission standard for asbestos manufacturing limits fibre release to 4 fibres/cc and particulate to below 2 mg/Nm³; the mining of asbestos is banned, though processing of imported fibre continues controversially.

There is no safe exposure level and disease can appear decades after exposure. For recyclers, asbestos is a hazard not as a product but as a hidden contaminant in the waste stream: old electrical equipment, motors, brakes and clutches, heat shields, gaskets in machinery, and demolition/construction debris can all contain asbestos. Brake and clutch friction material in end-of-life vehicle and tyre/rubber recycling, and insulation in old appliances entering e-waste, are the realistic encounter points.

The danger arises when asbestos-containing material is cut, shredded, ground or disturbed, releasing fibres into the air where workers breathe them. Routine recycling operations — shredding, grinding, dismantling — are exactly the activities that liberate fibres, making unrecognised asbestos in the feed a serious occupational risk.

Control is identification and avoidance, not capture. Screen incoming material for likely asbestos-containing items (old brake pads, gaskets, insulation, fibre-cement sheet), segregate suspected items, and never shred or grind them. Asbestos waste must be handled wet, double-bagged and sent to an authorised hazardous-waste facility under the Hazardous and Other Wastes Rules 2016 — not mixed into the recycling stream. Workers handling suspect material need respiratory protection rated for asbestos fibres.