{"id":490941,"date":"2026-06-09T16:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490941\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T16:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:52:11","slug":"ucc-team-says-no-public-health-threat-from-recycling-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490941\/","title":{"rendered":"UCC team says no public health threat from recycling machines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">Deposit return machines for recycling cans and plastic bottles in Ireland do not pose a biological risk to public health, researchers at University College Cork (UCC) have found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">The findings come following public commentary which raised concerns that the machines pose issues in relation to hygiene and infection control.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">A team led by Dr John Mac Sharry at UCC\u2019s school of microbiology, analysed samples from the machine and found no threat to public health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Mr Mac Sharry said: \u201cWhile the call for general cleanliness is valid, it is important to look at the actual microbial ecology of these machines to avoid unnecessary public alarm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\u201cOur data indicates that the organisms present are overwhelmingly \u2018fermenters\u2019, primarily common environmental yeasts and non-pathogenic bacteria that naturally thrive on the trace sugars and alcohol left in unrinsed containers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">\n            \u201cThese fermenting microbes can produce strong, unpleasant odours, and the sugary residue can attract pests like flies during the warmer months.\u00a0\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">&#8220;However, our findings show that these microbes act as a nuisance rather than a direct health threat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deposit return machines for recycling cans and plastic bottles in Ireland do not pose a biological risk to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4257,79,103,61,60],"class_list":["post-490941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cork-business","tag-cork-news","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}