The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized technology-based pretreatment standards under the Clean Water Act to reduce discharges of mercury and other metals from dental offices into municipal sewage treatment plants. Dental offices, which discharge mercury and other metals present in amalgam used for fillings, are the main source of mercury discharges to sewage treatment plants; these metals are subsequently released to the environment. The rule requires dental offices to comply with requirements based on practices recommended by the American Dental Association, including the use of amalgam separators. Once captured by the separator, dental amalgam can be recycled. 

Dental facilities in the City of Melbourne are required to complete and submit a Dental Facility Discharge Control Guideline and Pollution Prevention Plan.

For more information, please contact: (321) 608-5800 or ipp@mlbfl.org.

Frequently Asked Questions on the Dental Office Category Rule

Fact Sheet: Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for Dental Offices