Did you know that the United States is the number one trash producing country in the world? That’s right—five percent of the world’s population generates 40 percent of the world’s waste. And a horse farm can be a garbage nightmare—with plastic waste, wood debris and horse manure accumulating by the tons every year.

In 2009 I looked at our farm garbage cans—overflowing every week with plastic shavings bags, baling twine and a myriad of other materials that couldn’t go in our curbside recycling cans (or at least I didn’t think they could!). “There must be a better way,” I thought. And guess what? There is.

By 2011 we had completely revamped our farm’s waste management plan, and were recognized by Clackamas County with a BRAG award (Business Recycling Awards Group) for our recycling efforts. By maximizing curbside recycling and finding alternative plastics recycling avenues we reduced our once overflowing multiple garbage cans to a barely-full single can, and increased our recycling to two overflowing bins plus as much as a pick up load or two of other recyclables every week. We compost our manure for pick-up by a local nursery, and in the veterinary clinic, we even collect and return plastic syringe casings through a local hospital.

If you love horses, chances are you love the outdoors too. Not much is more satisfying than a hack through green fields under clear skies—and recycling is just one way to help prevent our outdoor spaces from slowly turning into landfills. In this article, I’m going to outline five simple steps you can take to help protect those green spaces, and ensure you won’t be taking hacks through the garbage piles instead.

Step 1: Maximize the curbside
Estimates say that approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S. That’s a lot of trees. And paper can be recycled curbside just about everywhere in the United States. So how does paper find its’ way to the landfills? Because many people simply don’t pay attention to what goes in the trash.

What to do? You can begin your recycling efforts without much work at all—simply by maximizing what you put in your curbside recycling bins. In the Pacific Northwest, curbside recycling is extensive, and many items you may not realize are recyclable at all can be picked up right on your doorstep.

Beyond the basics of cardboard, paper, cans and bottles, it just takes a phone call to your local curbside pick-up service to find out what alternative items they’ll accept. For example, at our farm, used motor oil can be put in plastic milk jugs and put right next to the recycling bins for pick up. And motor oil never wears out—it can simply be cleaned and reused over and over again. You might be surprised to learn what you can leave by the curb in your area.

Of course, making sure you actually put recyclables in the recycle bins instead of the garbage can is a critical step. I’m known around our farm for “dumpster diving” as I regularly dig through the trash to make sure every item that can be recycled makes it to the recycling plant. And did you know that in Washington dumpster diving can really pay off? You can actually be fined for allowing basic recyclable items including plastics, paper, and cardboard in your garbage.

Step 2: Plastic feed and shavings bags
Eight billion pounds of plastic bags enter the waste stream every year—and a plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to break down. Not only that, while it’s waiting, plastic debris acts like a sponge—soaking up toxic chemicals such as PCB’s and DDE (a break down product of DDT) that are deadly to wildlife. It’s estimated that plastic garbage in the ocean kills up to a million sea creatures every year.

What to do? Plastics do have a market in the recycling world—even those that aren’t accepted by your curbside recyclers. A few simple phone calls can help you locate plastic recyclers in your area who may accept items such as plastic feed and shavings bags which can really add up on farms where bagged or baled shavings are in use. We collect hundreds of large plastic bags each month and take them to Agri-Plas Inc. (see below for contact information) where they are used to produce all kinds of items including plastic decking material—which not only reuses the plastic but also saves the trees that might be used instead. These recycling plants may also accept household plastic bags so be sure to include those in your collection.

Step 3: Baling Twine
Do you realize that most baling twine is made from plastic—and can be recycled just like other plastics? I didn’t. But now we collect and return all of the baling twine we once put in the trash. Look at it this way—that baling twine is made from oil—the same oil that causes gas prices to surge over $4 per gallon. Recycling one ton of plastic saves the equivalent of 1,500 gallons of gasoline—enough to run your truck and trailer to a lot of horse events.

What to do? Plastic recyclers such as Agri-Plas may accept baling twine along with plastic bags and other plastic materials. Again—a few phone calls in your area may be all it takes to locate a plastic recycler. Some may even offer pick-up services to your farm. Plastic baling twine will be cleaned and ground—then used to make a wide variety of different plastic products including more binder twine, garden tools, pick up bed liners and plastic trim for automobiles. Try collecting your farm’s binder twine for just one month—you’ll be amazed at how much it adds up.

Step 4: Wood
17 percent of U.S. landfills are made up of wood. That translates into 1,350 acres of space used every year just to dispose of this potentially recyclable resource. While some may choose to burn, it’s not the best choice. Burning pollutes our air—at the same time impacting our forests and destroying a material that could otherwise be used over and over again.
What to do: Wood waste is common on a farm—from pallets that accumulate with feed and shavings deliveries to broken stall boards, jumps or other repair projects. Tree branches and other yard debris can often be included with your wood recycling. And wood recycling locations are very easy to locate in most areas. Your local transfer station is likely to accept wood for recycling—even if it isn’t completely “clean” of nails or other hardware.

Are you considering a remodeling or reconstruction project? With a little bit of effort, you can probably recycle almost everything you tear out of your old barn. (Here’s another hot tip—many transfer stations accept old paint for recycling. They mix it into new paint that can be purchased for a fraction of typical retail cost. One of my employees even painted her whole house a beautiful pale green with recycled paint—at a total cost of only $45.)

Step 5: Organic waste
Your horse can easily produce up to 50 pounds of manure every day—and that doesn’t include the shavings or straw bedding that is soiled and discarded in the cleaning process. 50 pounds per day means 350 pounds per week—over one-half ton per month. That’s a lot to add to a landfill if manure is hauled away for disposal. Many farm owners opt to spread fresh manure on fields and pastures, but this can lead to problems such as contamination from parasites or an increase in the fly population.

What to do: Composting manure is not that hard to do—and offers a huge range of benefits. To set up your manure pile for proper composting, you need to consider time, moisture, air flow and temperature. It’s ideal to have two collection areas available—one for dumping while the other is busy breaking down. The ideal compost pile will be at least three feet high, and will be turned regularly. Covering the pile will help prevent it from becoming too wet, and help control the temperature. (You can find specific guidelines for setting up your compost pile at www.whatcom.wsu.edu.) Your composted manure can safely be used to fertilize your fields in place of chemical fertilizer. Ours is picked up by a local nursery, and some farm owners are even able to sell good quality compost they produce.

Horse farms can be a waste management nightmare, with tons of garbage piling up every year. It doesn’t take much to get started on a farm recycling plan—with just a little bit of effort you’ll make a lot of difference.

Click here to read about "Team Green" recycling at horse shows.

Click here to learn about local recycling resources.