Update on Environment Canada Requirements for Dental Amalgam Waste

As reported in the July-August JCDA,1 the Minister of the Environment intends to publish a Final Notice in the Canada Gazette in December 2009 that would require the preparation and implementation of pollution prevention (P2) plans with regards to mercury releases from dental amalgam waste.

Dentists who have already adopted best management practices for amalgam waste, or whose facilities are in compliance with provincial or municipal legislation that meet the requirements of the notice about mercury disposal, will not be affected when the notice takes effect. Similarly, dental facilities that exclusively practise the specialties of oral and maxillofacial radiology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, oral medicine and pathology, orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, and periodontics are exempt from the new requirements.

The best management practices for amalgam include the installation of an ISO 11143 certified amalgam separator in the practice and the use of a certified hazardous waste carrier for the recycling or disposal of amalgam waste.

The final P2 planning notice will apply to dentists who have not voluntarily implemented these best management practices. According to the new federal requirements, these dentists would have to prepare a P2 plan no later than 3 months after the publication of the Final Notice and implement the plan no later than 6 months after its publication.

A fact sheet on the Final Notice and P2 plans is available at: www.cda-adc.ca/en/dental_profession/practising/amalgam_waste/p2_fact_sheet.asp

Reference
1. New Environment Canada requirements for dental amalgam waste. J Can Dent Assoc. 2009;75(6):424-5.

For more information on the Final Notice and best management practices with respect to dental amalgam, please contact: Environment Canada, Waste Reduction and Management Division, email: mercury@ec.gc.ca, tel.: (819) 934-6059.