Sustainability in Dentistry’s nature

Over the past year, the Faculty of Dentistry’s Sustainable Working Group started implementing a variety of initiatives as part of a new sustainability strategy.

As Aotearoa New Zealand’s only dental school, staff wanted to play their part in ensuring their historic institution reduces the environmental footprint of its clinical and teaching activities, including considering the amount of waste and carbon emissions being produced, and water and chemical use.

Chair of the working group Associate Professor Carolina Loch says the team came together with a shared sense of wanting to educate staff and students on sustainability practices.

“We knew we wanted to be at the forefront of research and innovation in sustainable dentistry, reduce costs, and increase efficiencies in how we operate” Carolina says.

“Once we made sure our aspirations aligned with the University of Otago’s Tī Kōuka sustainability framework and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and we had collected important baseline data on how we were doing, we were able to identify areas of improvement beginning with low-cost-high-impact ideas.”

This meant the working group was able to achieve much in its first year of operations, including establishing an award-winning oral care products recycling initiative.

This project involved establishing collection boxes in all clinic reception areas so staff, students and members of the public could drop off dental waste like toothbrushes, floss containers, toothpaste tubes and mouthwash containers for recycling.

This work led to two commendations in the Keep Dunedin Beautiful Awards by the Dunedin City Council’s Keep Dunedin Beautiful Charitable Trust. The first was a commendation in the community pride category in 2025 and the second was a high commendation in the sustainable business category in 2026.

The team also directed efforts toward education, networking and upskilling which included producing a sustainability newsletter and hosting a public lecture on the personal and professional sustainability journey of periodontist and dental implant surgeon Dr Diogo Godoy Zanicotti, who led the creation of the Sustainability Guidelines by the NZ Dental Association.

The working group also hosted a recycling week where proper recycling practices were reinforced. Other initiatives included installing a worm farm and veggie planter, introducing a mug library, championing dental instrument repurposing, and a staff circular market event took place where kaimahi and tauira could bring, swap or take household items, clothing, books and décor.

Carolina says she’s elated by what the group has already achieved in such a short time frame, adding they won’t be slowing down the mahi anytime soon.

“Looking ahead, we have a variety of ideas and plans at various stages of implementation, including hosting workshops with tutors and lecturers on how to embed sustainability in the curriculum. We are investigating how we can optimise our instrument  sterilisation to reduce waste and unnecessary instrument processing, and exploring how to enhance our recycling practices even further through soft plastic recycling of our sterilising pouches.”

“I’m confident we’ll continue to do good work as the group is made up of a team that believes in the importance of this work and the practical difference these initiatives achieve both economically and environmentally.”

The other members of the working group are Lab Manager Clare Fitzpatrick, Clinical Academic Professor Sunyoung Ma, Dental Assistant Jess Taylor, Sterilising assistant Karleen Owens-Findlater, Director of Otago’s Dental Hospital Janine Cochrane, Head Custodian Murray Walker, Auckland Facility Dental Assistant Anita Conelly, Purchasing Officer Roger Ascroft, and Dentistry students Gianna Dusecina, Mason Hedger (NZ Dental Students Association president) and Krystal Forsman (Māori Dental students association representative).

– Kōrero by the Division of Health Sciences Communications Adviser Kelsey Swart