treatment plants are all commonly incinerated, and mercury will volatilize at high temperatures. Emissions from incinerators are known to contain mercury. Accordingly, if amalgam wastes are segregated from wastes to be incinerated, mercury emissions can be reduced.
Amalgam Waste
Typically, dental offices generate two types of amalgam waste:“ non-contact amalgam waste” and“ contact amalgam waste.” Non-contact amalgam waste consists of leftover, excess mix that is not used. Contact amalgam waste consists of amalgam that has been in contact with a patient. Examples include extracted teeth with amalgam fillings, or amalgam captured by chairside traps, filters, or screens.
Particularly, because of the concern about free mercury’ s toxicity, recycling amalgam is strongly recommended. Because of the mercury content, recycling should be handled by an EPA-licensed facility. Contact the facility for packaging and shipping requirements. Some recyclers may provide shipping containers to transport the amalgam. Most recycling facilities prefer non-contact amalgam waste to be kept separate from contact amalgam waste. For this and other reasons, care should be taken to segregate non-contact and contact amalgam wastes, and accurately label containers accordingly. Some recycling facilities may require amalgam to be dry prior to shipping.
If you choose to dispose of amalgam waste instead of recycling, which is not recommended, a representative sample of the waste will need to be tested to determine if it constitutes hazardous waste. If it is determined to be hazardous waste, a hazardous waste disposal service should be contacted to arrange proper disposal.
Amalgam Capsules The recommended handling of amalgam capsules is as follows:
• Store amalgam capsules in the manufacturer’ s container until ready to use
• Excess amalgam remaining from a procedure should be collected immediately and stored in a sealed container. The container should be labeled“ non-contact amalgam waste” and handled as amalgam waste
• Return unused or expired amalgam capsules to the manufacturer or triturate and handle as noncontact amalgam waste
• Recycle empty amalgam capsules with non-contact amalgam waste
Amalgam Chairside Traps PDA recommends handling amalgam waste captured in amalgam traps as follows:
Chairside traps dedicated strictly to hygiene may be placed in the trash for disposal as municipal waste. Chairside traps not dedicated strictly to hygiene, however, contain amalgam waste and should be handled accordingly. If part or all of the amalgam waste has been in contact with patients, handle all of the trapped amalgam waste as contact amalgam waste.
Disposable Traps – Some recyclers will accept whole disposable traps. In this case, remove the trap and place it in your contact amalgam recycling container. If your recycler does not accept whole traps, follow the directions for handling amalgam from reusable chairside traps, below. Once amalgam waste has been removed from the traps, the traps themselves may be handled as municipal waste. However, PDA recommends recycling disposable chairside traps with contact amalgam whenever possible.
PDA Waste Management Guidelines 13