“Circle of Life” – that wonderful opening song from Disney’s Lion King should perhaps be played loudly around factories making polyethylene water tanks. In the same way that capturing and storing rainwater is based on the water cycle in Australia – the world’s driest continent – the material used for rainwater tanks also is fully recyclable. Waste scraps and old tanks can be repurposed, ground up into ‘regrind’ polyethylene powder that is suitable for making products storing non-potable (drinkable) water, such as livestock water troughs and other useful items.
Polyethylene water tanks have a long design life. At the end of the tanks’ life it can be recycled, creating a closed loop system, where the original material can be reused multiple times. Without this circularity, the size of water tanks, and that they are made to last, could create major landfill and environmental issues.
Bushmans is Australia’s leading water tank manufacturer, across five locations in the eastern states. All waste from the manufacture of Bushmans tanks as they are cut and fitted is collected and sent to a recycler who converts this back to the ‘regrind’. This can be reused for a range of products, including troughs for cattle and sheep.
This reuse is a classic example of the circular economy, where the manufacture of tanks and other products for rainwater storage is based on a system for eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. Bushmans prefers to invest in processes that minimise the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions, and keep products and materials in use for longer … potentially forever.
Bushmans Circular Economy In Action
