From the Winter 2020 Journal of the Colorado Dental Association
News of mandatory amalgam separators has been buzzing for years with a distant deadline. However, 2020 brings that deadline into the present and your office must have appropriate equipment installed, best management practices (BMPs) implemented and a one-time compliance report filed with your wastewater district.
Existing dental practices have a deadline of July 14, 2020 to install a compliant amalgam separator. The one-time compliance report must be filed by Oct. 12, 2020. New dental practices and those that have transferred ownership have been required to be compliant since July 14, 2017.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also requires dental practices to submit one-time compliance reports to attest to the installation of amalgam separators and adhere to BMPs for amalgam waste. Even if your dental practice is exempt from installing an amalgam separator, you may be required file a one-time compliance report. In those jurisdictions that have approved pretreatment programs, dental practices must file this one-time compliance report directly with the control authority. In other jurisdictions, dental practices will file directly with the EPA.
