According to people in this career, the main tasks are...
| Task | Importance |
|---|---|
| Operate shredders to reclaim steel from discarded appliances. | 92% |
| Collect and sort recyclable construction materials, such as concrete, drywall, plastics, or wood, into containers. | 86% |
| Sort materials, such as metals, glass, wood, paper or plastics, into appropriate containers for recycling. | 85% |
| Extract chemicals from discarded appliances, such as air conditioners or refrigerators, using specialized machinery, such as refrigerant recovery equipment. | 84% |
| Deposit recoverable materials into chutes or place materials on conveyor belts. | 83% |
| Clean recycling yard by sweeping, raking, picking up broken glass and loose paper debris, or moving barrels and bins. | 82% |
| Operate balers to compress recyclable materials into bundles or bales. | 81% |
| Clean materials, such as metals, according to recycling requirements. | 80% |
| 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. | 80% |
| Sort metals to separate high-grade metals, such as copper, brass, and aluminum, for recycling. | 79% |
| Record logs of recycled materials or waste chemicals removed from products. | 78% |
| Dismantle wrecked vehicles by removing parts and labeling and sorting parts into containers. | 77% |
| Operate processing equipment, such as fiber-sorters and grinders, to sort, crush, or grind recyclable materials. | 76% |
| Clean, inspect, or lubricate recyclable collection equipment or perform routine maintenance or minor repairs on recycling equipment, such as star gears, finger sorters, destoners, belts, and grinders. | 75% |
| Cut discarded products, such as appliances and automobiles, into small pieces using saws, blow torches, or other hand or power tools. | 73% |
| Collect recyclable materials from curbside for delivery to designated facilities. | 72% |
| Operate automated refuse or manual recycling collection vehicles. | 71% |
| Remove copper from circuit boards. | 65% |
