Bacteria and fungi present in municipal solid wastes (as well as in other forms of waste) may become airborne as dusts during waste processing. Several investigations to determine the health significance of these microbiological aerosols have been hindered by the lack of standardized procedures for sampling airborne bacteria and fungi in an industrial environment and by the absence of standards for assessing their health significance. Because it is difficult to correlate airborne levels of bacteria and fungi with epidemiological data, this standard is designed to permit the formation of a data base to aid in the assessment of the health significance of airborne microorganisms. It is intended that the use of this practice will improve sampling precision and thereby facilitate comparisons between sampling results.

1.1 This practice covers sampling of airborne microorganisms at municipal solid-waste processing facilities, hereafter referred to as facilities. Investigators should consult Practice D 1357 for the general principles of conducting an air-sampling program.

1.2 This practice applies only to sampling airborne bacteria and fungi, not viruses. Since sampling airborne viruses is significantly more difficult than sampling bacteria and fungi, reliable methods of sampling viruses are not yet available.