[Animats]

community compost sites

Yeah, right. You want to live next to one? The manager of the barn where I keep my horse has the problem that the non-rural types who have moved in next door don't like the manure pile. And if you think manure has enough value that someone will haul it away for free, you're wrong.

[tonyedgecombe]

Our food waste has been collected for more than a decade now. Once a year we can go and collect free compost from the council. It works in other parts of the world.

[082349872349872]

In my part of the world, we don't have counties: all land is incorporated into one commune/comune/Gemeinde or another.

In practice, this means that the community compost is usually situated well away from residential zones.

[Xylakant]

I totally would not mind living next door to a community compost pile - in fact, there is one round the corner, but it’s mostly used for garden waste from the parks around here. But a well managed compost pile has no negative side effects. It might smell a little like hay from time to time, but it’s definitely not even remotely comparable to a manure pile.

[goodcanadian]

Really? Around here people charge money for horse manure.

Also, a community compost heap need not resemble a manure pile.

[sokoloff]

Composted manure has value and no objectionable smell.

Fresh from the horse hot solids have the opposite of both of those qualities.

It takes time and biological action to turn the second into the first. The manure pile bears little resemblance to what comes out of the bag you buy at the home center or farm store.

Of course, I have zero sympathy for folks who move in next to a horse farm or near an airport and are somehow shocked (more likely feigning shock) to learn that horses and airplanes do horse and airplane things there.

[frosted-flakes]

Or buy a house that backs onto a mainline railway that sees 10+ freight trains a day, then write to the city to complain about the noise.

[sokoloff]

Exactly! If the house near to the rail line, airport, pig farm, or landfill is cheaper, it might be that way for a reason.

[frosted-flakes]

I read about the railway situation in my local paper the other week. They were trying to get them to institute a no-horns rule in the area, which is not likely to succeed.

A passenger railway in a nearby city has the no-horns rule, but that case is different because the line was dead for more than a decade before it was revived, the train has a strict speed limit while in the city, the only at-grade crossings (2 or 3) are well-protected with gates, lights, bells, and pedestrian mazes, and it travels through a dense residential area.

[giantg2]

Yep, and it's even worse if enough people complain and your tax dollars are used to build a sound barrier.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

You can spread a thin layer, maybe one centimeter thick almost fresh from the horse. Though I prefer them dried for maybe up to a few days, because less mess. Worked excellently so far.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

That seems strange to me. Here the horse dung is valued, and the renters/owners of allotment gardens pay for having it delivered to them on flatbed trailers as excellent fertilizer. I sometimes grab an old empty can of paint (because it has a lid) and shovel some into it, to be dispersed onto the plant containers and flower boxes on my balconies.