SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The world's largest Arabian Horse Show wrapped up a couple of days ago with more horse shows on the books to look forward to before summer.
WestWorld of Scottsdale has roughly 40 equestrian events each year, which annually produce around 40,000 tons (approximately 20,000 cubic yards) of horse manure.
If the manure weren’t repurposed, it would go to the landfill, negatively impacting the environment.
Instead, the manure is moved by the truckload from the 386-acre WestWorld property, at the base of the McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale, to Mountain States’ 130-acre nursery in Glendale.
This partnership saves the city more than $100,000 in annual disposal fees.
The manure transforms into compost. It's a nutrient-rich soil that helps native desert plants grow.
The process can take up to two years according to Ron Alewine, Operations Manager with Mountain States Wholesale Nursery.
"What we have behind us is the end result of the manure debris that comes from horses at WestWorld after being processed for about a two-year period," Alewine explained. "We have one operator, his whole job is to continually flip it from the south to the north, and then we mix it with the machines we have to bring out all the trash and everything and make it useful for our soil mix."
Rudy Ortega Jr., Owner of Cross the Line Trucking, is responsible for hauling the manure to the nursery. He further explains the process.
"It brings out all the salts, all the chemicals, whatever the horses are injected with, whatever they eat, it just takes it out and it's naturally done" Ortega said.
Ortega added the age-old saying 'one man's trash is another man's treasure!'
"If we didn’t do the program we’re doing, it would go to the landfill and gets buried and fills up the landfill with stuff it doesn’t need to," Jeff Kurth, City of Scottsdale WestWorld Operational Manager said.
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