REFUSE workers are at risk of developing long-term musculoskeletal disorders from lifting kerbside recycling containers, a study reveals today.

Moving wheelie bins does not give rise to significant injuries, but handling other containers causes back and neck problems, according to a joint study carried out by Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Greenwich at an unnamed local authority.

The researchers found that repeatedly lifting sacks, boxes and containers of rubbish such as bottles and paper off the ground is likely to cause spinal or muscular pain.

The contortions involved cause a significant amount of lower back pain and “skeletal complaints” among the workforce, they said.

Recorded instances of physical pain declined after the introduction of wheelie bins in 2013, but the introduction of sacks, bags and baskets the following year increased physical problems for workers, the researchers added.

Professor Billy Hare of Glasgow Caledonian said: “If we want our refuse workers to work more productively for longer and with fewer health problems, then the use of wheeled bins is an essential starting point.

“The negative health effects of using sacks, baskets and boxes for waste collection have been known for some time now, but the research up until this point has been purely lab-based, which some find difficult to relate to their day-to-day work.”

The research was published by the journal Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show that 70 per cent of waste industry workers are involved in municipal and commercial collections of rubbish and recycling, IOSH environmental and waste management group chairman Andy Robertson said.

“These collections account for about 80 per cent of all the reported injuries, with the most common being musculoskeletal disorders,” he added.

Of all the main industry sectors, waste and recycling has one of the highest rates of workplace injury and work-related ill-health, according to the HSE.

The fatality rate as a result of incidents involving machinery and vehicles is also 15 times greater than the rate across all industries and three times higher than in construction.