City Seeks to Expand Collection of Horse Manure for Composting

Citing economic and environmental concerns, a Los Angeles City Council committee Monday asked the heads of two departments to continue looking at ways to expand a program that collects horse manure for use in composting.

Plans to update the collection service--which saves the city money by keeping the waste out of landfills--have been on hold for more than a year as officials from the Department of Animal Regulation and the Bureau of Sanitation explored ways to license more of the city’s equines and bring them into the program.

Despite a city ordinance that requires licenses, only 1,840 of the city’s horses have been properly registered, animal regulation officials said. Estimates of the actual number of horses citywide vary between 20,000 and 100,000.

Only about 220 horse owners--most of whom live in the far eastern and western areas of the San Fernando Valley--currently participate in the collection program. Those owners pay $5 per month for every 30 gallons of manure trucked away by the city.