Horsemen are furious over manure tax
Guðmundur Björgvinsson shovels dirt into a wheelbarrow in his stable. mbl.is/Eyþór
Horsemen in the capital region are furious over the local authorities' decision to ban the spreading of horse manure in open areas and to use them for fertilizing. Now the manure must be returned to the waste disposal company Sorpa, which charges a collection fee of almost 26 krónur per kilo.
These seem like high taxes and Guðmundur Björgvinsson, a horseman in Mosfellsbær, who Morgunblaðið spoke to, believes that this will increase his costs for the sport by almost one million ISK annually.
Sorpa in Álfsnes. mbl.is/Árni Sæberg
The development described above, that horse manure are taxed as waste or hazardous material, is not limited to the capital region. The same is true across the country. "This is a completely incomprehensible development; "There are many wastelands that need to be reclaimed and horse manure could be put to good use there," says Linda Björk Gunnlaugsdóttir, chairwoman of the Icelandic Association of Equestrian Associations. She says she simply does not believe that the waste from horses should now be defined as a hazardous substance. Because of this, horse breeders plan to demand answers from the municipalities, but this issue is now discussed in the stables, barns and cafeterias of the capital area's stables.
