During the past few years the importance of recycling materials that are harmful to the earth has been well advertised. Proper recycling controls items that would become a problem in landfill waste disposal. Under a program specifically designed to deal with this problem, xray film recycling has become less of an issue.
HIPAA rules are written to assure the privacy of health plan and care provider patients, when their x-rays are disposed of. Each state has laws regarding the length of time the provider must retain the film. Under Federal guidlines Medicare, for example, requires these records to be retained for five to six years. After that time recovery companies can pick them up for disposal.
Industrial Surplus Inc. provides this service in Salinas, California. Following HIPAA's strict regulations regarding x-ray film and medical records, they pick up the film for xray recycling and give it a chemical wash. This wash, which is 100% friendly to the environment, allows them to recover the silver content. In addition, the film's leftover PET plastic and the paper jackets are also recycled.
NDT film is used in many areas of science and industry. It is called non-destructive testing and is used in analyzing and evaluating the properties of various components used in research, medicine, engineering, ultra-sound, MRI's, and other areas. This film is also recycled for the silver it contains.
Dental xray film is another item used in this recycling process. The majority of dentists take a picture of their patients' mouths at each visit. After awhile these records stack up and can cause a severe storage problem. Having a silver recycler dispose of them is an excellent way of removing this inconvenience.
Silver recovery from x-ray film has become a popular way of disposing of unwanted x-ray film as well as being kind to the environment. Recovery companies pick up the film free of charge and return a check and certificate of destruction. The certificate of destruction is important as this provides information that all health information has been completely destroyed. It is easy to learn more about proper disposal of this kind of film and the company who offers this service by visiting the Internet.
