60 French towns have switched from trucks to horses and carts to collect garbage.
Jean Baptiste, mayor of medieval Peyrestortes says the benefit is practical - You can't turn a waste collection vehicle around here. We used to block streets to traffic and keep waste in open skips The exhaust smells have gone, the noise has gone, and instead we have the clip-clop of horses' hooves.
In Saint Prix, Mayor Jean-Pierre Enjalbert is certain he is saving money as the novelty of the horses has increased recycling rates. By using the horse for garden waste collection, we have raised awareness. People are composting more. Incineration used to cost us €107 a tonne, ridiculous for burning wet matter, now we only pay €37 to collect and compost the waste.
Well-established horse-drawn collections also succeed in Trouville, and in Vendargues near Montpellier, but many ventures last only a few months.
Sita, France's second biggest waste management and recycling company, has now integrated the collecte hippomobile into three refuse collection circuits in the Aube département in central France.
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