PARTNERS FOR A CLEAN ENVIRONMENT

A partnership of local governments and businesses to encourage
and recognize environmental achievements.

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Dental Offices

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and Pressure Washers

Brochure - Best Management Practices for Dental Waste

Introduction - Brochure - Best Management Practices for Dental Waste

The city of Boulder’s Industrial Pretreatment program has prepared this brochure to provide the dental community with guidelines on choosing environmentally friendly products, recycling metal-bearing wastes, and correctly disposing of waste materials. Through pollution prevention, dental practices can reduce the regulatory requirements associated with wastes such as used x-ray fixer, amalgam, and chromium x-ray cleaners.

Managing wastes to prevent pollution
Pollution prevention measures include employee training, product substitution, improved housekeeping practices, chemical inventory control and the recycling of metal wastes. When implementing a pollution prevention strategy, you should consider the potential for inadvertently transferring pollutants from one waste stream to another.

For example, mercury is very persistent in the environment. Chair side traps are beneficial in preventing amalgam from going down the drain which could otherwise contribute to wastewater pollution. However, if the recovered amalgam is disposed of in the trash or as biohazardous waste, the mercury disposal problem is not resolved, it is just being transferred to another waste stream. The good news is that both mercury from amalgam and silver from used x-ray fixer can be recycled. Recycling these resources is not only the environmentally correct thing to do, but may also alleviate some of the requirements associated with disposing of these wastes.

The city of Boulder, like many municipalities, has limitations on concentrations of pollutants such as metals, discharged to the wastewater system. These limits are designed to protect the quality treated wastewater discharged to Boulder Creek and maintain biosolids quality. Refer to Attachment 2 for a list of the City of Boulder’s wastewater discharge limits.

The State of Colorado oversees hazardous waste generators ensuring environmentally correct management and disposal of hazardous waste. For more information refer to the Dental Waste Compliance Bulletin.

Other pollution prevention measures you might want to consider to improve both the quality of your workplace and the environment include:

Using precapsulated dental amalgam;
Using disinfectants containing less-hazardous materials such as quaternary amines;
Discontinuing the use of x-ray developer cleaning products that contain chrome;
Researching and purchasing new technologies such as film less radiography and;
Advocating pollution prevention among the employees.

Below is a chart that lists several types of waste generated by dental clinics along with environmentally correct disposal options.

Waste type	Source	Option
Amalgam particles	Traps, screens, excess mix	1) Send to a recycler. 2) Dispose of as a hazardous waste.
Waste mercury	Spills, spill cleanup	1) Manage as hazardous waste by sending to a recycler.
Empty amalgam capsules	Precapsulated amalgam use	1) Dispose in trash.
Fixer	X-ray process	1) Have hauled for recycling. 2) Treat before discharge to sewer. 3) Dispose of as hazardous waste.
Developer	X-ray process	1) Discharge to sewer.
X-ray system cleaners that contain chrome	X-ray process	1) Switch to nonchrome containing cleaner. 2) Dispose of as hazardous waste. 3) Use mechanical methods (brush and elbow grease) instead of chemicals.
Disinfectants with less than 2% glutaraldehyde Disinfectants with low concentrations of formaldehyde	Equipment cleaning	1) Discharge to sewer. 2) Use disinfectants containing less-hazardous materials such as quaternary amines.
Lead foils and shields	X-ray processing protective shields	1) Send to metal reclaimer. 2) Dispose of as hazardous waste.

Information

Dental Certification Criteria

Hazardous Waste Compliance

Specific Pollutant Limitations

Waste Hauler/Recycler

List of Contacts

Businesses

List of Certified Dental Businesses