As part of Ewing’s sustainability initiatives, we look to our vendor partners to find innovative solutions to daily challenges. Every day, old irrigation sprinklers are removed from the ground and end up in the garbage, ultimately finding their way to the landfill. On average, it can take over 1,000 years for that irrigation sprinkler to decompose.

Could there be another use for that sprinkler?

I challenged my sustainability colleagues at Hunter Industries to see if they could come up with a way to solve this dilemma, and with careful thought and consideration, they did!

In November 2015, Ewing and Hunter introduced a pilot sprinkler recycling program at select Ewing branches in California and Texas, and we’ve recently added branches in Colorado. Currently, the program is available for Hunter products, but we would love to expand it with other major irrigation sprinkler manufacturers.

While this program is in its pilot phase through the end of 2016, with active participation from professional contractors like you, we are hopeful to expand it in the future to include more locations.

How does it work?

Simply bring in your old Hunter spray heads and rotors (except those with stainless steel sleeves) to a participating Ewing branch. Collected sprinklers will be sent to a processing facility where the components will be separated, and the plastic materials that are able to be recycled will be ground up and returned to Hunter so they can make a new item from those materials.

So the next time you go to throw away an old Hunter sprinkler, set it aside and recycle it at your participating local Ewing branch.

Have a sustainability suggestion?

I would love to hear from you, please email me at wgorowitz@ewingirrigation.com.