Don't trash those vaccine trays

It seems like everyone these days is trying to keep the planet beautiful. And at our practice we try to do our part, too.

One of the small ways we reduce waste is to reuse the tops of the trays in which vaccines are packaged. When preparing vaccines for an appointment, we put all the syringes and vaccines in one of these trays to keep them together for the patient. This tray slides easily into the pet's chart, which makes carrying supplies in and out of exam rooms much easier.

During surgeries, we place pets' medications in a tray labeled with their name to keep each pet's drugs separate from others. We do the same thing when running lab work, placing all the various slides, tubes, and syringes in a tray so everything stays together in case we can't finish it all at once.

When the trays are finally too old to use, we recycle them. It's a small—but important—effort to help our practice become more environmentally friendly.

—Julie Rowan, practice manager, Carver Lake Veterinary Center; Woodbury, Minn.