What started as a family tour around Dr. Bob Black’s ranch landed as an opportunity and an idea for sustainability. Bob, DVM and cattle rancher, and his wife, Shirley, had “massive stacks” of the empty VitaFerm® and Vita Charge® tubs around their ranch, when family toured last Thanksgiving. At the suggestion of a sister-in-law from Texas who said that someone could surely use these empty tubs, Bob decided to start offering them for sale on the popular Facebook Marketplace starting in spring 2023.
“My goal is to see an orange tub in every yard in Wichita,” chuckled Katie, Black’s daughter, who works full-time at the Elk County Vet Clinic where Dr. Black practices, while she also studies nursing.
Katie said their family lives about an hour from Wichita, and that is where a majority of tubs end up. With her grandmother and an aunt living in Wichita, those driveways often serve as the pick-up point for the tubs that get used for starter gardens, storage bins, water recycling vestibules, cleaning yards of sticks and leaves and more.
“My dad does most of the Facebook postings, listings and monitors all of that,” Katie said. “Some people will come to the clinic or contact him directly because they have heard about all these tubs.”
Dr. Black shared that he enjoys recycling the tubs.
“Having a second or third use for the plastic tubs is great and helps recycle a product that otherwise might not be used,” said Dr. Black.
BioZyme dealer Bob Black is creating sustainable uses for empty tubs and providing new customers a product that they can readily use. That’s care that comes full circle.
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