Plastics and mindless landfill - equestrian products

[Bonnie Allie]

Lost my mind this morning at the saddlery at some of the truly dim witted products available that are both completely unnecessary and contribute to mindless landfill. Finding products that are not made of plastic or wrapped in unnecessary plastic is hard as well.

I kid you not, there was a plastic container of 100 peppermint flavoured wipes that were supposedly to improve bitting acceptance for your horse. So you wipe the bit with one of these and chuck it in the bin?!!! If you really think that peppermint is going to solve your bitting issues, pop to the grocery store and get a little bottle of peppermint essence. You can still get it in glass bottles as well.

Plastic brushes, plastic hoof picks, plastic feed bins. My favourite liniment now comes in a plastic bottle not glass one anymore.

Rant over.........

 

[TGM]

I suggest you have a look at www.eqwax.co.uk - they sell a variety of horse care products, the majority of which are free of single use plastic. Their postal packaging is plastic-free too.

 

[dogatemysalad]

Totally agree with you BA. Sachets of tack cleaning wipes, wipes for eyes..what's that about ? I can't think of a single time when I've needed either of those.
Plastic feed bins and stacks of feed/water buckets...how many do people need and why are they so flimsy that they break after a couple of months?
We have a graveyard of wheelbarrows. Some were binned because the plastic split, others were dumped because of a flat tyre. Many of them could have been repaired.

 

[meleeka]

Totally agree. The shelves are full of products for the gullible and more-money-than-sense people.

I have a metal hoof pick that’s probably 30 years old and still works as well as it should. It hasn’t got a fancy brush on the end though, but I’m just as happy using an old scrubbing brush for the same purpose!

I use supplements and I’m truly horrified at amount of plastic tubs I have. I try and recycle them to hold other things, but would love all supplements to come in refills, without a tub.

 

[FFAQ]

There's a Facebook group called zero waste equestrians. We try to recycle as much as possible at our yard, but as we have all said, our industry is terrible for the environment at the moment! Yesterday I picked up a weigh tape that not only has a plastic tag through it to hold it together, but then was sealed in a plastic bag ?.
The eqwax products seem pretty good. A couple of my friends use them, and when my current stash of products runs out I will be using eqwax.

 

[daydreamer]

If you order the equimins balancer direct you can request it comes in a sealed plastic bag rather than a new tub. I think all supplements should be available as refills like this.

 

[tallyho!]

Great post! It's getting so much worse.

 

[JackFrost]

My best dandy brush is a wood and natural bristle scrubbing brush that came from Wilko. Can't remember what it cost, but it was cheap. It does a great job and isn't wearing out. Things don't need to be made of plastic, I wish manufacturers would learn that.

 

[canteron]

It’s the wrapping on horse feeds that get me - surely hay could be tied with jute not baler twine and if I can I choose feeds in paper packaging.

 

[emilylou]

Very true. I’d really like to see more action taken in our industry to combat this.
Heavy duty paper could be used for most feed bags instead of plastic bags
And there really isn’t any reason not to offer refills. Some companies do already.
The one that springs to mind for me is totally turmeric, who offer refills on all their supplements.

Would be interested to know any more companies that are thinking of the environment as would be very happy to switch my buying habits.

 

[milliepops]

there's quite a few supplement companies that do refills. Feedmark top of my mind because I just got an order for them, it's cheaper if you have the refil instead of the pot. I think their bespoke supps also offer a chance to minimise packaging too because if you use more than one product you can have it all made up into one formulation. they use shredded cardboard in their parcels instead of bubblewrap etc.

I am not an expert on the subject but I'd imagine jute string would be awkward in balers, the stuff I've come across is more prone to breaking and not as free running as the string they use now. it's balewrap that does my head in. i was reading something about clear bale wrap which is better/easier for recycling but I can't see it being mainstream for a while.

 

[chocolategirl]

Lost my mind this morning at the saddlery at some of the truly dim witted products available that are both completely unnecessary and contribute to mindless landfill. Finding products that are not made of plastic or wrapped in unnecessary plastic is hard as well.

I kid you not, there was a plastic container of 100 peppermint flavoured wipes that were supposedly to improve bitting acceptance for your horse. So you wipe the bit with one of these and chuck it in the bin?!!! If you really think that peppermint is going to solve your bitting issues, pop to the grocery store and get a little bottle of peppermint essence. You can still get it in glass bottles as well.

Plastic brushes, plastic hoof picks, plastic feed bins. My favourite liniment now comes in a plastic bottle not glass one anymore.

Rant over.........

Another one that I do ponder about is haylage wrappings. Given the trend appears to be more towards feeding haylage over good old fashioned hay, where on earth does all the plastic end up?

 

[planete]

I have had to use big bale haylage this year for the first time and I am horrified at the volume of plastic that comes off each ( we have to dispose of them ourselves and I have needed one large rubbish council sack for each one). Is it recyclable? Does it go to landfill? The thought of all these thousands of bale wrappings being dumped every year is nightmarish and I cannot see an end to the problem as the majority of grazing animals now depend on haylage. Has anybody looked at this issue?

Cross posted with chocolategirl. Great minds...?

 

[milliepops]

you can get it recycled but when I looked I couldn't find a way that was do-able for a private yard. I use probably 4 a month and the wrap goes in my black bin. I have seen collection/recycling schemes for farms.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Some councils do have a recycling place for farm wrap at the dump but it does vary council to council. Some farmers will take the wrapping back from customers who buy from them to add to their recycling pile, but that depends on the specific farmer.

 

[Fruitcake]

I was just thinking this the other day. It really winds me up. I have a wooden dandy brush from the 70s that’s still going strong, whereas I’ve actually worn away a number of plastic ones.

I also hate the use of plastic in feed sacks. One of the reasons I chose Simple System was the paper sacks, but even they have switched to plastic!

I love Science Supplements but the excessive use of non-recylable black plastic is really putting me off. I’ve emailed them a couple of times about this over the last few years, and received promising emails, claiming they’re seriously looking into to this, but nothing seems to have been done.

 

[TPO]

When Science Supplements message asking for feedback and reviews I always suggested refills and recyclable tubs.

I've stopped using them for other reasons but being overrun by big black tubs was one factor. We try to re use them but there are only so many tubs that a person needs!

Baileys have switched over to paper feed bags. The only exception is Outshine, because of it's high oil content it still needed plastic packaging

 

[palo1]

Best rant ever !! Thank you for this thread. I have become mildly obsessed with this as it is an area of my life that I can change and have an impact on. I have sworn off ever buying fleece anything ever again or much of the standard equestrian clothing which often is pure polyester. I have found cotton waffle rugs which work instead of fleeces and pure wool rugs instead of thermatex (which are mostly polyester damn them - fab rugs but not allowable under my rule!). You can buy virtually every kind of stainless steel fitting for rugs to replace cheap/rusty ones and rugs can be patched almost indefinately. There are loads of feeds that come in paper sacks and you can request supplements usually in refill packs. I always ask for stuff where possible to be packaging free or cardboard only but actually hardly buy anything that has to be sent these days. Equestrian clothing is tricky but there are plastic free ways round that if you are prepared to think a bit laterally. Wool, bamboo, linen, viscose and cotton, even though they have some pretty dire manufacturing processes in some cases will at least biodegrade and will not directly result in microplastics which polyester clothing and it's friends will. Even Tesco now sells organic cotton denim jeans which make great, and not very expensive, jods. Wool is your friend for layering but bamboo is pretty ok too with viscose and then linen. It IS possible for most of us to massively reduce plastic use on the yard and in riding terms. Really interested to hear what other folk do to avoid vile plastic and polluting manufacturing where possible.

ETA - bale wrap for both hay (netting and string) and haylage is really tricky.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I have seen that there is research into using balewrap to fill potholes, with a pilot scheme in cumbria but this was pre-Covid and I haven't seen a follow-up. I would be more than happy to donate my balewrap and we have enough potholes locally for a scheme of our own.

 

[w1bbler]

Yes, I have up doing poo samples with westgate due to the amount of plastic. Outer envelope was plastic, then a plastic wallet inside, plastic return envelope etc. I understand my actual sample pot requires a plastic bag, but the rest.....

 

[skint1]

Totally agree with you BA. Sachets of tack cleaning wipes, wipes for eyes..what's that about ? I can't think of a single time when I've needed either of those.
Plastic feed bins and stacks of feed/water buckets...how many do people need and why are they so flimsy that they break after a couple of months?
We have a graveyard of wheelbarrows. Some were binned because the plastic split, others were dumped because of a flat tyre. Many of them could have been repaired.

We have a wheelbarrow graveyard too, but I have to say manufacturers don't help. I bought a large blue barrow (not from one of the better known wheelbarrow businesses) It got a puncture that couldn't be repaired. I must have bought half a dozen different tyres, each time measuring carefully, and it never fit quite right, wheel was too thick, too thin, hole too small for axle, stuff like that. You'd think a barrow wheel would be pretty universal, but in that case it wasn't. I sold the barrow and the spare wheels to a farmer in the end as I didn't have the know-how to mod it, but it shouldn't have been so difficult just to change a tyre. I put the money toward a new large wheelbarrow with puncture proof tyres so at least I know that will be with me for lift...they can put my coffin in it when I die in fact

 

[scruffyponies]

My wheelbarrow is on it's 2nd bottom; plated and riveted.
Plastic treat tubs are re-used for years. Lost one today, as the side of it was kicked out by a pony. It will be replaced by an old metal biscuit tin.
Bailing twine is carefully wrapped up for use several times over as ties, emergency harness repair and goodness knows what.
I wish I had an alternative to cheap plastic buckets though. They rarely last long, and there is nothing less use than a cracked plastic bucket.

 

[asmp]

It was good to see that Mudcontrol Mats are made out of recycled plastic (albeit German recycled plastic - I remember filling the yellow bags when i lived in Germany)

The owner of my DIY yard used to collect all his haylage wrappers and get them taken away but he told me the other day he can no longer do it ?

 

[rowan666]

Couldn't agree more! I actually had the same thought this morning when I was opening up my new packages of bridle peices (god forbid my cob be a standard size) i really didn't need every item in plastic wrapping when it was bubble wrapped anyway

 

[Zuzan]

Another gripe is electric polyrope which degarades and casts fibres ... dread to think how much micro plastic is deposited in the soil / sward .. and potentially eaten by horses .. or for that matter other grazers..

 

[Fruitcake]

When Science Supplements message asking for feedback and reviews I always suggested refills and recyclable tubs.

I've stopped using them for other reasons but being overrun by big black tubs was one factor. We try to re use them but there are only so many tubs that a person needs!

Baileys have switched over to paper feed bags. The only exception is Outshine, because of it's high oil content it still needed plastic packaging

Quite! I think I’ve just about exhausted uses for big black tubs! I have them filled with jump cups, salt licks, spare rug straps and numerous other things and still end up having to throw them out.

I might have a look at Baileys and other options for paper feed sacks. I feel I should start voting with my money.

I don’t feed haylage and use hay for other reasons, but the amount of plastic balewrap I see rather upsets me.

 

[scats]

I’m always annoyed when I have to buy new supplements in tubs when I have perfectly good tubs from the last lot. It’s such a waste.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Lost my mind this morning at the saddlery at some of the truly dim witted products available that are both completely unnecessary and contribute to mindless landfill. Finding products that are not made of plastic or wrapped in unnecessary plastic is hard as well.

I kid you not, there was a plastic container of 100 peppermint flavoured wipes that were supposedly to improve bitting acceptance for your horse. So you wipe the bit with one of these and chuck it in the bin?!!! If you really think that peppermint is going to solve your bitting issues, pop to the grocery store and get a little bottle of peppermint essence. You can still get it in glass bottles as well.

Plastic brushes, plastic hoof picks, plastic feed bins. My favourite liniment now comes in a plastic bottle not glass one anymore.

Rant over.........

When I was little and had some dirt on my face, my grandmother would spit into a handkerchief and scrub my face with it...

 

[DizzyDoughnut]

I don't actually buy much for my ponies because it just seems a waste, they have what they need and I get carrots as their treats from the small farm shop across the road. Most of the random stuff in the tack shop just seems to be pointless to me.

I do however have a plastic dandy brush that my Auntie bought me for my 5th birthday and its still going strong, admittedly I don't brush my ponies very often in winter but it's lasted 35 years so far and is nowhere near worn out yet!

 

[Lois Lame]

The whole 'wipes' thing eats me up. Baby-wipes and now horse-wipes.

I wouldn't put a baby-wipe near a baby, nor a horse-wipe near my hand or horse. It's just spending money to spend money; to be part of the baby-owning, horse-owning herd. Daft.

I'm with you, Bonnie Allie.

And don't get me started on plastic mounting blocks.