The Best Gloves for Trash Pick Up and Recycling Collection

Trash collection gloves for sanitation and waste management workers

Trash and recycling collection can be a dirty universal task. When we say universal, we mean everything can be trash – paper, liquids, mold, broken glass, and furniture. Trash collectors never know what's inside a bag or bin and that’s why having the right safety equipment is vital.

Some aspects to consider when choosing the right glove for trash and recycling collection should be the season. If you are picking up trash in the winter you may want insulated gloves, while during the summer months gloves should be breathable. In addition to the season, one should consider splash protection, cut and chemical protection and how easy it is to put the glove on and off. We’ve highlighted each of these categories below.

Splash Protection – while the front of your hand will have a grip for picking up bags and bins, the back of the hand can also provide protection. This will prolong the length of time that the glove can be worn and also protect the user from any unwanted liquid‘s from entering the glove.

Ease of Putting the glove on and off – During commercial trash collection, gloves are often worn for shorter periods of time and are often taken off to drive and put back on to pick the bags and throw them in the rear. For this reason, a glove with a safety cuff or open wrist may want to be chosen to wear.

Cut Resistance Level –Trash can be an unmown. Each bag or pick-up will have different items in it, so for the best protection against unwanted cuts and scrapes, it may be important to choose a glove that has a higher level of cut resistance for trash and recycling collection.

Glove Usage – We always try to put ourselves in our customer’s shoes when recommending the right hand protection. If your trash collection team takes off their gloves, it may be better to invest in gloves that will last longer. However, if you have a large community clean up or event where gloves will only be worn once and then discarded, perhaps a less expensive glove will make more sense.

Chemical Protection – if you are picking up gloves from certain facilities that may have chemicals in them, it is important to choose the right glove coating that will protect against the chemicals being discarded. If you choose the wrong glove, not only do you risk an injury, but you will go through gloves a lot quicker.

With all these things to consider, here are some of the gloves we recommend for trash pickup and recycling collection:

	G-tek Seamless Polyurethane Coated Glove on Spandex Shell – This glove is great for community clean ups and general light duty trash collection. The black color will hide any dirt while the coating on the palm and fingers provides protection from any liquid or dull objects during collection
	NXG Cotton/Poly Shell with Textured Latex Dip – One of the best gloves for general trash pick-up, this glove provides a lot of protection on the palm and fingertips due to the latex coating. This glove also has a breathable back to allow the hand to remain cool.

PVC Dipped Gloves – These gloves are a standard for commercial and industrial trash collection. Due to their 2.5” open safety cuff, they are easy to take on and off between stops. Additionally, these gloves are fully dipped in PVC, meaning they offer both front of hand and back of hand liquid and splash protection. We have a few options on the PVC Gloves that come in both Jersey lining (for warmer months) and foam lining (for colder months):

Industrial Grade Black PVC Gloves	Premium Grade Black PVC Gloves
Industrial Grade Orange PVC Gloves with Foam Lining	Premium Grade PVC Gloves with Foam Lining

Nitrile Dipped Gloves – Nitrile is a synthetic material, meaning it will offer greater protection against chemicals and unknown liquids. Nitrile also offers greater gripping power against grease, lubricants and wet areas. All of these gloves are Nitrile Dipped with an open wrist, so the glove can be taken on and off easily. They come in jersey lining (for warmer months) and foam lining (for winter months).

Cut Resistant Trash Collection Gloves – These gloves will all have a coated palm for grip and liquid protection as well as being manufactured on a glove liner that will provide cut protection against glass, sharp objects and other items.

The last glove we would recommend is a basic nitrile powder free disposable glove. Although a box of nitriles don’t provide any protection they will keep the guys clean from liquids and grime. If you do choose a nitrile, its best to choose nitriles that have a 6 mil strength or greater.

Ultimately, the only way to choose the best trash and recycling collection gloves is to try them out and see how they work in the field. So please, Contact Us, and we can get a sample pair in your hands to try out today.