When Halloween has come and gone and your jack-o-lanterns start to droop, you may feel tempted to toss them in the trash. Indeed, most of the 1 billion pumpkins the United States produces each year make their way to the landfill. However, there are more sustainable ways to dispose of your Halloween pumpkins that can benefit local farmers.
Your jack-o-lantern or doorstep decoration is a great source of animal feed. Plenty of livestock can eat pumpkins and benefit from the vitamin E, A, protein, and fiber in these fruits.
Several local farms in Minnesota accept Halloween pumpkins as a source of food for their livestock. Some farms, like Alternative Roots Farm (Madelia, Minn.) have had great success getting local people to bring their old pumpkins to their farm.
“Last year, it was a hit,” says Brooke Knisley, owner of Alternative Roots Farm. “People kept telling other people about it.”
Whole or carved pumpkins and even decorative gourds can be a great source of nutrients for pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, and cows.
“It’s best if they get the whole pumpkin because the seeds act as a natural dewormer," Knisley says. "Pigs will eat the entire thing, so even with carved pumpkins, nothing goes to waste."
Pumpkins can be dropped off on a pallet outside the Alternative Roots farm store. Donations will be accepted from Halloween until Thanksgiving.
“We are really passionate about building more resilient communities and reducing food waste and supporting food preservation,” Knisley says.
If your Halloween pumpkin doesn’t end up as animal feed, composting is another great way to dispose of it.
Pumpkins that end up in landfills have a hard time breaking down because landfills function to store material and don’t have much oxygen to allow organics to decompose properly. When organic materials don’t have enough oxygen to break down, they release methane gas, a greenhouse gas that is harmful to the environment.
It’s important to remember that pumpkins are first and foremost food and can be treated like other forms of food waste. Composting is by far the best way to manage your Halloween pumpkins and divert them from the trash. Pumpkins can be placed in backyard composting bins or at composting facilities that manage yard waste.
Typically, yard waste facilities do not accept food waste, but they do make an exception for pumpkins. The MPCA’s Composting Facilities Map indicates where you can drop off your pumpkins and other yard or food waste.
Not every community has easy access to curbside organics collection, but if you’re interested in these management methods, check your county’s or city’s solid waste resources information to see what is available to you.
When you’re ready to compost or donate your pumpkin, make sure it is free from glue, stickers, lights, candles, glitter, paint, or wax. It can’t be composted if it still has decorations. If you can, break down your pumpkin into manageable sizes depending on your disposal method. It’s also good to call ahead to see if your local farm or composting facility accepts leftover pumpkins.
Whether you compost or donate your Halloween pumpkin to local livestock, you’re doing your part in diverting food from ending up somewhere spooky like the landfill.
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