Dental Hazardous Waste Generator Self Audit Pilot Project

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

Hennepin County along with other regional Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board Counties and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency came to recognize that dentists were a significant source of toxic mercury wastes. Hennepin County has about 450 dentists within its borders. Mercury wastewater separation systems are complicated; outreach and compliance verification in the past would have been accomplished through site visits which are time consuming. Approximately five years would be necessary to visit 450 dentists, given the other responsibilities of the Commercial Hazardous Waste Unit and current resources. The self audit pilot program was designed to obtain information from dentists that would allow the unit to verify basic compliance, especially proper treatment and disposal of mercury wastes. Self audits indicating potential problems were followed up with phone calls or site visits. Under the pilot program, all 450 dentists were verified to be in basic compliance within one year. Follow-up visits to the dentists would be made over the next five years. Similar audits are now planned for other hazardous waste generator categories.