From recycled racehorses to recycled horse manure, there are tons of ways to recycle around the barn. With America Recycles Day upon us, here are some creative ways to recycle and repurpose things around the barn to get you started on your recycling.

Repurpose Horsehair

Have you pulled your horse’s mane or tail lately? Gather up the extra hair and place it outside. Birds can use hair for their nests, and you may see your horse’s hair repurposed in nests in your barn.

Recycle Old Bottles

Supplements, grooming products, and health products often come in plastic containers. When you’ve used up the products, wash out and recycle the containers they came in. Over the course of a year, you will be recycling a lot of plastic.

Put Out a Recycling Bin

Keeping a recycling bin easily accessible in your barn can encourage recycling. Riders who bring water bottles and other bottled drinks to the barn will be more likely to recycle those bottles if doing so is easy. As an added bonus, you can redeem soda bottles and cans for cash to put towards something special in your barn.

Repurpose Old Leather

Have old leather straps hanging around? If you’re feeling a little crafty, line a wooden picture frame with leather straps. To recycle even more, use an old wooden frame that needs refinishing – you can create a rustic frame with equestrian accents to frame your favorite riding photos.

Create a Magazine Sharing Corner

Horse magazines are great, but once you’ve read them you face the problem of deciding what to do with them afterwards. If your barn has a lesson or boarding program, then other riders can probably benefit from the magazines. Create a magazine sharing or swapping corner in your tack room or lounge to give old magazines new use.

Go Solar

To capture and harness the sun’s energy while lowering your electric bills, go solar. Solar panels can be installed on your barn’s roof or on the ground to recycle and use the sun’s energy.

Put Manure to Use

Every barn has plenty of horse manure, which is perfect for recycling. Compost manure to make it useful for gardens. Manure can be spread out over fields to help make them fertile, and local farmers and high school urban farms will also be happy to pick up the manure for use in gardens.

Hold a Tack Sale

If you have extra tack, blankets, and horse supplies lying around that you won’t use again, then hold a tack sale at your barn. Riders can rid their tack boxes of unneeded supplies and tack, while these items can be recycled to be used again. You might also consider donating unneeded items to a local horse rescue or therapeutic riding center.

Planning to put some of these ideas to work? Be sure to check out our blog post for additional ideas on recycling around the barn.

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Original Source: Creative Ways to Recycle Around the Barn