Hg-rid-LIFE

Reducing poisonous mercury emissions from dental clinics

A lot of the amalgam (liquid mercury) used in dentistry ends up in the environment. As it is, 41% of all water bodies in the EU already exceed mercury concentration levels. The team at Hg-rid-LIFE has found a way to reduce these poisonous mercury emissions coming from Swedish dental clinics. They decontaminated piping systems in 132 such clinics using improved decontamination methods. Overall, they managed to collect and dispose of 372 kg of mercury sludge, which is around the same weight as a cow, and 21 kg of mercury. To promote their new method, they developed an online training tool in Swedish, English, German, Spanish and French. And 13 lectures on their approach and online tool were organised for dental nursing students. Europe now has a better way to decontaminate mercury that could soon be rolled out across the continent.

Coordinator
Praktikertjnst AB
Countries
Sweden