Will AI replace Recycling Coordinators?

What this score means

Recycling Coordinators leans toward the safer end for Transportation. Parts of the role touch tasks AI is getting good at, but the core still depends on hands-on work or judgment that resists automation. At 40 out of 100 it scores 22 points above the Transportation average of 18. Across the 2 sources behind this baseline, individual estimates run from 32 to 47, so the score is a weighted consensus rather than any single figure.

The number is a consensus estimate for the typical version of the role, built from published academic and industry research scored occupation by occupation. It is not a prediction about any individual. How scoring works

What this job actually involves

Exposure follows the work itself rather than the job title, so it is worth seeing what the role is made of. These are the tasks O*NET records for Recycling Coordinators, most central first, showing 12 of 23.

• 01Oversee recycling pick-up or drop-off programs to ensure compliance with community ordinances.
• 02Maintain logs of recycling materials received or shipped to processing companies.
• 03Supervise recycling technicians, community service workers, or other recycling operations employees or volunteers.
• 04Review customer requests for service to determine service needs and deploy appropriate resources to provide service.
• 05Provide training to recycling technicians or community service workers on topics such as safety, solid waste processing, or general recycling operations.
• 06Identify or investigate new opportunities for materials to be collected and recycled.
• 07Assign truck drivers or recycling technicians to routes.
• 08Create or manage recycling operations budgets.
• 09Prepare bills of lading, statements of shipping records, or customer receipts related to recycling or hazardous material services.
• 10Inspect physical condition of recycling or hazardous waste facility for compliance with safety, quality, and service standards.
• 11Negotiate contracts with waste management or other firms.
• 12Coordinate shipments of recycling materials with shipping brokers or processing companies.

Task statements from O*NET by the National Center for O*NET Development, used under CC BY 4.0. The tasks are descriptive; the exposure score above is ours.

The research behind this score

This baseline aggregates 2 research sources that scored Recycling Coordinators for AI and automation exposure. More recent, higher confidence studies carry more weight in the final number.

• 01GPTs are GPTs: Labor Market Impact Potential of LLMs · 2024
• 02AI Occupational Exposure to Language Modeling · 2023

Also covers

Agency Operator · Corporate Recycling Manager · Heavy Equipment Supervisor · Materials Manager · Recycle Coordinator · Recycle Supervisor · Recycling Center Operator · Recycling Coordinator and related titles

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