How to Dispose of Straw Bales and Hay Bales

How to dispose of straw bales is an easy question once you know that a bale is just dried plant stalks tied with twine. Clean straw and hay break down on their own, so the best homes for them are a garden bed, a compost pile, a neighbor with chickens or goats, or your local yard waste program. The landfill is mainly for bales that are moldy, painted, soaked with something you would not want in soil, or simply too many to handle. Here is how to sort your bales after fall decorating or a season of use, and where each kind can go.

Straw or hay: why it matters

People use the two words loosely, but they are different products. Straw is the hollow, leftover stalk of grain crops such as wheat, oats or barley after the grain has been harvested. It is usually golden, fairly clean of seeds and good for mulch and animal bedding. Hay is grass or legumes such as alfalfa cut while still green and dried as animal feed. It is greener, softer and often full of seeds. Both compost well. The difference shows up when you reuse them: hay spread on a garden can sprout a crop of grass and weeds, while straw rarely does.

Check the bales first

• Dry and clean? Good for nearly any reuse below.
• Moldy, musty or dusty? Keep it away from animals and handle it with gloves and a dust mask. Compost it or use it as a weed-blocking mulch, or send it out with yard waste.
• Painted, dyed, glittered or sprayed? Some decorative bales are colored or treated. Leave them out of compost and animal bedding, and ask your yard waste program whether they accept them.
• Twine or wire. Cut it off and put it in the trash. Plastic baling twine wraps around compost machinery and garden tillers, and most yard waste programs want it removed.

Reuse them in the yard and garden

• Mulch. Pull a straw bale apart into flakes and spread it a few inches deep around vegetables, berries or new trees. It holds moisture, keeps soil from splashing onto leaves and rots into the soil by the next season.
• Winter cover. A loose layer over garlic, strawberries or perennial beds helps protect them through cold snaps. Pull it back in spring.
• Grass seed cover. A thin, see-through scattering of straw over newly seeded lawn helps hold moisture and keeps birds and rain from moving the seed.
• Weed block under cardboard. If you only have hay, lay cardboard or newspaper on the bed first and the hay on top. The paper smothers the seeds that would otherwise sprout.
• Straw bale gardening. A whole straw bale, soaked and fed with fertilizer for a couple of weeks, can be planted directly with tomatoes, squash or herbs. By the end of the season it is half compost.

Give them away

Clean bales posted for free on neighborhood groups and online marketplaces tend to get picked up quickly. Gardeners want straw for mulch, and people with backyard chickens, rabbits or goats use it for bedding. Fresh, mold-free hay may interest someone with livestock, but never give away moldy hay as feed. Mold and dust in hay can make horses and other animals seriously ill, so say plainly what condition it is in. Garden centers, farms and community gardens sometimes take bales too, but call first.

Compost them

Straw is a carbon-rich “brown” material, so it balances wet, nitrogen-rich “greens” such as grass clippings, vegetable scraps and spent pumpkins. Break the bale into loose flakes; a tight bale can sit for years without rotting in the middle. Wet the straw as you layer it, mix it with greens, and turn the pile now and then. A hot, well-managed pile also kills many of the weed seeds in hay. Pumpkins from the same fall display can go in with it, and our guide on how to dispose of pumpkins covers what to strip off first.

Yard waste pickup and drop-off

Many curbside yard waste programs accept straw and hay, and so do most municipal compost sites and yard waste drop-offs. The usual catches:

• Whole bales may be refused. Break them apart and pack the straw loosely into paper yard waste bags or your yard waste cart.
• Bags and bundles often have a weight limit, commonly somewhere around 40 to 50 pounds. Check your hauler’s rules.
• Twine, wire, plastic bags, and painted or decorated straw usually have to stay out.
• Some programs end for the winter, so fall decorations may need to go out before the last pickup.

The yard waste and brush guide explains how yard waste sites work and how they usually charge.

When the landfill makes sense

A transfer station or landfill will take straw and hay with ordinary trash. It makes the most sense for bales that are badly moldy, contaminated with oil or chemicals, mixed with other debris, or more than your yard waste program will handle. Bales are bulky but not especially heavy when dry: a small square straw bale is often in the 30 to 40 pound range, while hay bales and wet bales can weigh a good deal more. If the site charges by weight, the dump cost calculator gives a rough idea of the bill. If it charges by volume or truckload, pack the load tight and tarp it so loose straw does not blow out on the road.

Large round and square bales

Old round bales that weigh several hundred pounds or more are a farm problem rather than a curbside one. Common choices are to sell or give them away as bedding, mulch or erosion control; unroll or chop them and spread them on a field or garden to break down; or stack them in an out-of-the-way spot to compost slowly. A tractor or a farm neighbor makes all of this easier. Your county extension office can suggest local outlets. Burning old bales is restricted in many places, and a big bale can smolder for days and flare back up, so check local burn rules before you go that route.

Mold, heat and fire

• Mold dust. Breaking apart moldy hay or straw releases spores and dust that can irritate lungs. Work outside, wear a well-fitted dust mask or respirator, and wet the material down first.
• Heating in wet stacks. Hay that was baled or stored damp can heat up as it breaks down, and a large stack can occasionally reach the point of catching fire. Do not pile wet bales against a house, garage or barn.
• Dry straw burns fast. Keep decorative bales away from candles, jack-o’-lanterns with real flames, fire pits and heaters.

Straw bale disposal FAQ

Can you put straw bales in yard waste?

Usually, yes. Most curbside yard waste programs and compost sites accept straw and hay, but they often want bales broken apart and packed in paper yard bags or a yard cart, with all twine and decorations removed.

What do you do with old straw bales after fall decorating?

Cut off the twine and use the straw as garden mulch, mix it into a compost pile, or offer it free to gardeners and backyard chicken keepers. Whatever is left can go out with yard waste.

Can I compost hay bales?

Yes. Break the bales into loose flakes, wet them and mix them with green material such as grass clippings or food scraps. A hot pile helps kill the weed seeds that hay often carries.

Is moldy hay dangerous?

It can be. Moldy hay can make horses and other livestock sick, so never feed it to animals. The dust and spores can also irritate your lungs, so wear a dust mask and gloves when you handle it.

Can I burn old straw or hay bales?

Only where local rules allow open burning, and many places restrict it. Bales can smolder for a long time and reignite, so composting or yard waste pickup is usually the safer choice.

How much does a straw bale weigh?

A small square straw bale is often roughly 30 to 40 pounds when dry. Hay bales are usually heavier, and wet bales of either kind can weigh much more.

The bottom line

How to dispose of straw bales usually has a free answer. Cut the twine, then use clean straw as mulch, compost it, or give it away. Use yard waste pickup or a drop-off site for what you cannot use, breaking bales apart first. Save the landfill for moldy, painted or contaminated bales, and keep animals away from moldy hay.