Improving dental waste management: Waste volume and treatment costs reduction. An eight-years overview

摘要

In Brazil, dental waste remains regulated by the same Federal Resolutions which control medical waste. From 2006, a program focused on the reduction of potentially infectious dental waste generation has been implemented in a Public Dental Healthcare Service in Belo Horizonte city, Brazil. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the reduction of daily waste production and, consequently, its treatment costs. Clinical staff was composed of 155 workers, distributed in three work shifts and 28 offices. The workers attended semi-annual training programs on infection control, including the prevention of occupational risks. The total amount of dental solid waste produced on every workday was properly weighed by a digital scale. To evaluate the reduction of the portion of infectious waste discarded, the total amount of dental solid waste produced in one workday was visually inspected and manually separated by specially trained personnel. Two samples collected in February and August 2014 were compared with previous results evaluated in 2007. The infrastructure to provide proper waste management was acquired and implemented after October 2006. All employees received theoretical-practical training on segregation, collection, storage, transportation and waste disposal.