Recycle your Dental Products with Terracycle at Shepherds Hill Dental Centre
Shepherds Hill Dental Centre was one of the first Adelaide dental practices to partner with Terracycle and Colgate.
Recycling is a core part of our practice ethos of creating a positive impact in Blackwood and the surrounding Mitcham Hills area and caring for our earth and environment by recycling and striving towards a zero-waste future.
We welcome anyone from the Belair and Blackwood area to drop off their dental products free of charge at the front or rear of our practice during business hours.
So far we have collected over 3000 items (more than 75kg!), and our partnership with Terracycle lets us support Blackwood Primary with the proceeds of the recycling program.
Many dental products are unsuitable for yellow kerbside recycling bins, due to their material complexity and size. The Terracycle initiative allows for specialist recycling of toothbrushes and toothpaste containers to avoid landfill waste and the risk of microplastics entering our waterways.
As a practice, we’re looking to find more sustainable products to recommend to patients, with the view that we mustn’t compromise clinical efficacy or health outcomes against the impact each product has on the environment and resources taken to make it. Sustainability is an ongoing evolving part of dental care and we will continue to research and recommend more sustainable products as they become available. In the meantime, we offer the recycling program as an important part of closing the waste loop.
These are the items that can be recycled at our practice (Updated April 2024)
Oral Care Recycling Program
We accept all brands of the following:
- Toothpaste tubes and caps:
- Remove the caps from the tube: terracycle will still accept the lids, but unscrewing them will aid the efficiency of the recycling process
- Squeeze as much toothpaste out as possible
- Cut the toothpaste container in half – there’s usually enough toothpaste in the part you can’t squeeze out for another week’s worth of brushing
- Wash the remaining toothpaste out and dry before sending to us
- Plastic Manual toothbrushes (all brands)
- Electric toothbrush heads (all brands)
- Floss containers
- Please remove all unused floss first
Please handle separately
- Cardboard + Plastic packaging
- Separate cardboard from plastic and place in your kerbside recycling bin
- Bamboo Toothbrushes
- Cut the toothbrush head that contains the bristles off
- Dispose of the head in landfill (bristles are made of plastic)
- Dispose of the toothbrush handle in kerbside organics bin
- Loose batteries
- Aldi, Blackwood
- e-Waste: Electric Toothbrush Body, Electric Toothbrush Chargers
- “Unplug N’ Drop” e-waste bin at Lions Bargain Centre, Eden Hills
- Visit Electronic Recycling Australia for other locations
Our practice is conveniently located at 350 Shepherds Hill Rd, Blackwood, near the Blackwood roundabout and in easy access to Craigburn Farm, Belair, Hawthrondene, Eden Hills, Bellevue Heights and Coromandel Valley. We have convenient parking at the front and rear of the practice to drop off these items.
We also sell a range of sustainable dental products including bamboo toothbrushes, interdental brushes and silk dental floss from Piksters.
We look forward to being your recycling partner for dental products.
Call our friendly reception team on (08) 8278 6858 or book your appointment online.
