Changing Behaviors Through Education- Dentists and Painters

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

The dental industry has been transitioning from amalgam restorations to composites resulting in stored quantities of mercury that are no longer needed. Sarasota County’s goal is to educate dentists regarding potential financial and health risks associated with storage of such materials and instruct them on proper removal of mercury from dental offices. As an incentive to change existing behavior, the County provided an easy and cost effective way to properly dispose this waste. Painters and painting contractors frequently order 10% to 20% more paint than needed to finish a job. This behavior obviously results in leftover paint. The County wanted to provide painters with training to not only more accurately estimate needs, but also to use and properly manage leftovers. As an incentive to participate, painters successfully completing the training were permitted to dispose of up to 50 gallons of waste paint at no charge through the County’s Project Green Sweep Program. Project Green Sweep is a county run, fee-based program that qualifying businesses can use to dispose of the hazardous waste they generate.