Dentistry is a huge contributor to plastic waste, from disposable gloves, toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes and dental floss – it all mounts up. At Westleigh we are conscious of this and while lots of the plastic we use is necessary to maintain hygiene standards, we have also looked at what we can do to reduce plastic in the practice.
We continue to operate our decontamination unit using minimal plastic wrapping. Instruments that are to be used that day are not wrapped, we only wrap items overnight that are to be used first thing the next day. We estimate we have reduced plastic wrapping by 70% since we started the initiative last year.
We launched our dental product recycling scheme for staff and customers last year and more recently we have joined forces with Fareham Methodist Church who have successfully been running several recycling schemes in conjunction with Terracycle https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/#@54.39586446195522:-2.83447377734376zoom:5. This means that not only will our dental products be recycled, Terracycle will also pay a fee to the church which goes towards their charity The Well Foundation https://www.wellfoundation.org.uk/. The Well Foundation is a water charity which aims to provide clean water for everyone.
Last year staff at Westleigh Dental Care took part in a beach clean at Hill Head. The event was so successful we have decided to make it an annual event. This year the beach clean took place at Warsash beach. We picked up 2 large bin bags full of plastic that is now out of the ecosystem and no longer a danger to local wildlife. Anyone can take part in a beach clean with the support of Fareham Council https://www.fareham.gov.uk/clean_and_tidy/beaches_and_foreshore/intro.aspx. They will supply the bin bags and the litter pickers – all you have to do is pick up the rubbish!
