Sustainability at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry
In an effort to promote sustainable practices the Dugoni School of Dentistry has hosted a number of events during the past two academic years. Events have included:
- An unWaste electronics and household items recycling event for members of the school, community and the public.
o Collected over 10,000 pounds of waste for proper disposal.
· A sustainability film festival
o Faculty, staff and students attended a week-long event in which sustainability themed movies were played during lunch hour.
· A reusable bag design contest
o Members of the school community were invited to submit sustainability-themed designs. The winning design was printed on reusable canvas shopping bags and distributed at events such as the dental school farmer’s market and the sustainability film festival.
· An office supply exchange
o Faculty and staff were asked to exchange unused, good condition office supplies instead of disposing of them. The event had dozens of participants, and nearly all items were exchanged rather than sent to the landfill.
· Renewable resources recycling training
o Presentation featured best practices for recycling, composting and landfill.
· A presentation from the San Francisco Zero Waste Initiative and the city’s Green Business Program
o This presentation offered attendees more insight into San Francisco’s steps to reduce waste city-wide.
· A sustainability trivia contest featuring “eco-prizes”
o This was an email contest that asked faculty, staff and students to correctly answer sustainability questions. The winners were given reusable mugs and water bottles.
· A guest presentation by the Eco-Dentistry Association titled “The Case for Green Dentistry”
o This presentation informed students and faculty of how to implement sustainability measures in their dental practices.
Active sustainability programs on the Dugoni Campus
The dental school has also rolled out an active composting program. To promote recycling, trash cans
under staff desks have been replaced with recycling containers with an attached smaller waste receptacle. The school has placed new recycling bins throughout the building to ensure that recyclable materials are indeed being recycled.
Additionally, the school's in-house restaurant, Café Cagnone, is working to completely eliminate plastics from its waste stream, replacing them with compostable items.
The school is now using electronic forms for time-sheets and numerous other previously paper-only documents. As of July 2009, the school's Main Clinic has switched to completely paperless patient records, significantly cutting down on the amount of paper needed to document patient care.
Sustainability Task Force Members:
· Armando Ortega - Human Resources
· Eve Cuny – Director, Environmental Health & Safety
· Nell Herbert - Administrative Assistant, Student Store
· Jommel Gutierrez - Coordinator, Environmental Health & Safety
· Michael Allan - Administrative Assistant, Dental Practice
· Meredith Soden - Communications Coordinator, Marketing & Communications
· Vinni Oberoi – Class of 2012 Student
· Armin Vahidnia – Class of 2012 Student
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