Amalgam Waste Handling Procedures
Amalgam Waste Handling Procedures
Amalgam Separators
In July 2017, a federal rule went into effect that requires dental offices nationwide to have an amalgam separator installed. Any offices that had separators installed prior to that date were not required to immediately replace their units but were grandfathered in for 10 years( July 14, 2027) or the lifetime of their unit, whichever comes first
Any separators installed must achieve at least 95 % removal efficiency and must be compliant with either:
1) American National Standards Institute( ANSI) American National Standard / American Dental Association( ADA) Specification 108 for Amalgam Separators with Technical Addendum
2) International Organization for Standardization( ISO) 11143 Standard
Amalgam separators are also required to be sized to accommodate the maximum discharge rate of amalgam process wastewater and separators must be inspected in accordance with the manufacturer’ s operating manual.
There are exemptions to the final rule for some specialists, mobile dental units, and offices that do not place amalgam and only remove it in emergency situations. To determine if your office is required to install an amalgam separator, please refer to ADA’ s website: https:// www. ada. org / resources / practice / legal-and-regulatory / amalgam / amalgam-recycling-rule-faq
In addition, the EPA’ s final rule includes the incorporation of two of ADA’ s Best Management Practices:
• Prohibiting the flushing of waste amalgam( including, but not limited to, amalgam from chair side traps, screens, vacuum pump filters, dental tools, cuspidors, or collection devices) into a public owned treatment works( POTW)
• Prohibiting the use of oxidizing or acidic cleaners( including, but not limited to, bleach, chlorine, iodine, and peroxide that have a pH lower than 6 or greater than 8) to clean dental unit water lines, chair-side traps and vacuum lines that discharge into a POTW
Mercury / Alloy Powder Mixture
Dental amalgam contains a mixture of mercury and an alloy powder consisting of silver, tin, copper and zinc. When other metal alloys are added to mercury, it is considered to be a mercury compound with different chemical properties. Mercury in the form of dental amalgam is not free mercury. Consequently, amalgam waste may not exhibit any hazardous waste characteristics. Proper handling and disposal of amalgam waste is, nevertheless, very important.
Free elemental mercury is referred to as liquid, raw or bulk mercury. Its use is not recommended by either ADA or PDA; instead, we recommend the use of precapsulated amalgam alloy. If your office does have elemental mercury, it should be recycled using a recycler who will accept mercury. Elemental mercury that is disposed of must be handled as hazardous waste.
Mercury in the form of dental amalgam is very stable. However, if amalgam waste is disposed of as regulated medical waste, or if it is discharged into the public sewer system, the mercury in the amalgam waste can be released into the environment. Medical wastes and sludge from wastewater
12 PDA Waste Management Guidelines