On the occasion of World Environment Day 2025, Dentsply Sirona, the world’s largest diversified manufacturer of professional dental products and technologies, calls on the dental industry to strengthen its commitment to sustainable dentistry.
The company will also reaffirm its commitment to environmental sustainability by accelerating its efforts to make all packaging recyclable by 2030.
This ambitious target is part of the Healthy Planet pillar of Dentsply Sirona’s sustainability plan Beyond: Acting for a Better World and aims to support dental practices on a sustainable and waste-reducing path.
As part of this initiative, Dentsply Sirona is incorporating the principles of a circular economy – reducing, reusing and recycling, and removing harmful, non-recyclable plastics from packaging.
This includes transitioning from plastic packaging to paper and corrugated alternatives, replacing foam liners and single-use plastic trays with paper liners, and reducing the size of labels and boxes. In addition, printed Instructions for Use (IFUs) will be replaced with electronic versions¹ wherever possible.
The company has successfully optimised some of its packaging and says these cumulative improvements will deliver environmental benefits over time.
Tony Johnson, Senior Vice President, Chief Supply Chain Officer and Executive Sponsor of ESG at Dentsply Sirona, said: “Sustainable packaging is an environmental imperative – we have taken this into account and have set an ambitious target to make our packaging, including plastic components, recyclable by 2030.
As a global leader in the dental industry, we are well placed to lead the rethinking and transformation of packaging – we hope our actions will inspire others to join us in driving positive change in this critical area.”
Currently, packaging waste accounts for a significant proportion of municipal waste worldwide. In the US alone, packaging accounts for 63% of municipal waste collections and within the dental industry, packaging is the largest source of plastic waste².
Redesigning packaging to make it smaller, lighter and easier to recycle can help reduce waste volumes and CO2 emissions, while also offering practical benefits to dental practices and labs, such as saving space and reducing disposal costs.
In addition to its packaging targets, Dentsply Sirona continues to support industry-wide sustainability initiatives through its long-standing partnership with the World Dental Federation (FDI).
As a founding member of FDI’s Sustainability in Dentistry initiative, Dentsply Sirona supports the development of educational tools such as two Sustainability in Dentistry Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and a dedicated resource pack to provide dental professionals with practical strategies to minimize the environmental impact of their daily practice life.
Dentsply Sirona was recently named one of the World’s Greenest Companies 2025 by Newsweek³ and participated in the FDI 2025 Sustainability in Dentistry Summit with a virtual booth.
Tony Johnson said: “Sustainability is a shared responsibility – and inconsistent global regulations continue to hinder progress.
We urge policymakers, manufacturers and industry partners to work together to develop harmonized standards and promote sustainable packaging solutions. By working together, we can drive real change towards a brighter, more sustainable future.”
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