Key messages

• Current biomonitoring methods are limited in assessing the full spectrum of chemical exposures, especially with emerging chemicals in occupational sectors.
• Innovative screening methods (SS/NTS) and new sampling tools (DBS, SWB) offer a promising alternative to traditional approaches, enabling more comprehensive exposure assessment.
• The project will demonstrate the proof of concept of these novel methods through real-life case studies, offering insights that will support policy, regulatory improvements, and enhanced risk management to better protect workers and guide future chemical exposure regulations in Europe.

Overview

The European Commission has adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan ↗, promoting the reuse, recycling, and prolonged circulation of resources. While this shift is environmental beneficial, it may carry unintended consequences for workers. Those involved in the waste processing chain could face increased health risks due to heightened exposure to various substances during material reuse and recycling. While the move towards a circular economy is positive overall, we still need new and innovative methods to understand and manage these risks. Traditional analytical approaches focus only on known biomarkers of exposure, but they may fail to identify other potential risks associated with waste processing. In this context, suspect and non-targeted screening methods offer promising alternatives by enabling the detection of both known and emerging biomarkers of exposure and effect.

These advanced screening techniques, when paired with novel sampling methods such as dried blood spots (DBS) and silicone wristbands (SWB), represent a significant step forward in occupational biomonitoring. They offer non-invasive, practical options for monitoring complex exposures in real-world settings.

Despite their potential, these methods are not yet widely used in human exposure assessment ↗. Further development, validation, and harmonisation are required to ensure their reliability and applicability across Europe.

This project aims to develop and conduct a proof-of-concept study to evaluate the performance of these innovative approaches. It will also demonstrate how they can complement traditional methods by providing deeper insights into the nature and impact of occupational exposures among workers handling waste, ultimately supporting better prevention strategies and policy development.