MADERA, Calif. – A sustainability initiative at Valley Children’s is turning laboratory waste into something that grows.
Through the “ReTin and Reuse” program, steel tins that once held a single lab test are being repurposed as seed starters, giving them a new purpose far beyond the lab.
The tins may be unassuming – small, sterile and designed for precision – but their second life is helping challenge the idea that useful materials should be discarded after one use.
At the heart of the program is collaboration, as the tins make their way from the laboratory to the garden, connecting departments through a shared effort to reduce waste and promote environmental stewardship.
The Laboratory
The traditional life span of a laboratory tin is brief and predictable.
The tins are used to hold a single test designed to detect various viruses and bacteria in patient samples. The laboratory at Valley Children’s goes through hundreds of these tins every single day, each one playing a vital role in identifying potential sickness in patients.
Victoria Ramer is one of the clinical laboratory scientists who handles the tins every day – and she saw the waste adding up firsthand.
“Lab waste that just sits in a landfill has been eating at me for my entire career as a scientist,” said Ramer. “So it’s been a big passion project of mine to find ways to get around it.”
Once the test is removed, the tin is thrown away, its job complete. That was where the story ended – a true single-use instrument – until the team asked a simple but powerful question: What if it didn’t have to?
The Garden
Instead of the landfill, the tins now begin a second life.
Ramer collects the tins in clearly labeled containers in the lab before delivering them to Matthew Mayes. He’s a clinical research coordinator in the oncology department at Valley Children’s and oversees Roots of Resilience, the hospital’s on-site garden.
From there, Mayes prepares the tins by filling them with soil and seeds – a process that both patients and staff members are invited to take part in.
“Each little tin becomes a living ecosystem that patients and staff can plant and then come out here into the garden and see it growing and actually eat what they grew, or take it home,” Mayes said.
What begins as an empty container quickly holds potential – sprouts pushing upward, roots taking hold and the promise of something new.
So far, the tins have been used to grow a wide range of fruits, vegetables and plants, including tomatoes, corn, bell peppers, jalapeños and succulents.
“Kids really love the idea that they can hold it, and they can put a seed in and know that this is going to grow into a carrot, or this is going to grow into a watermelon,” said Mayes. “Seeing them actually put the seed in and have that forward thinking is incredibly beautiful, and it’s really at the heart of the entire mission itself.”
The team even follows up with patients growing plants using the tins, reinforcing lessons about resilience and perseverance. Gardening, like healing, takes time. If a seed doesn’t survive, another one is always waiting for them.
“To see it actually be cool to not just staff members all around the hospital, but patients and their families who themselves are coming from all walks of life, it illustrates how extensive the impact could be,” Mayes said.
The Impact
Behind the scenes, the program’s growing footprint is carefully measured. That responsibility belongs to Stephanie Johnson, the third member of the team and an organizational project manager at Valley Children’s.
Johnson serves as the operational backbone of the initiative, translating passion into data and ensuring the program’s impact supports a larger mission.
“It’s part of our sustainable health care journey where we are embracing initiatives for a healthier, greener future, making sure that there’s a clean place for the kids that we serve every day,” she said.
To track the project, Johnson keeps an eye on how many emissions are being saved, how many pounds of waste are being kept from landfills and more.
So far, that data has been impressive. Since officially launching the program on March 1, more than 2,600 tins have been saved and will be used as seed starters, resulting in 275 pounds of steel being diverted from landfills.
For Johnson, the program is also proof of what can happen when employees are encouraged to pursue projects that matter to them.
“They put us where we’re passionate, and that’s a really cool feeling,” she said. “It makes it feel like such an amazing and welcoming place to work.”
A shared purpose brought the team together, and they are eager to see how the project – much like a seed contained within a lab tin – continues to grow.
“I think the sky is the limit for this program, we’ve seen how passionate people are for a project like this and we’re excited to see where this can go moving forward,” Ramer said.
