Pumpkins are at the very heart of our fall celebrations. Halloween and Thanksgiving feature the plump squash, either as a decoration or delicious food, but there’s one problem with this big old veggie. What to do with it when the holidays are over?Did you know that the Department of US Census Bureau reports that in the USA alone more than one billion pounds of pumpkins were produced in 2009? The $101 million dollar pumpkin industry is potentially disastrous for local landfills. As you know, pumpkins are pretty bulky, so they not only take up a lot of space in the landfill, it also takes a good deal of fuel to get 'em there. If we care about our environment we need to find an alternative to sending used pumpkins to the landfill.
Compost vs Landfill
Pumpkins, which of course are 100% natural, will break down quickly as compost in your yard, providing you with valuable nutrients for your lawn or garden. Pumpkins are an easy addition to your compost pile. All you need to do is to remove the wax and candles and put the pumpkin into your backyard composter. Some composters say it’s better to smash or cut the pumpkin up first before you put it in the composter. The smaller the vegetable matter the quicker it will compost.
New Life for Jack-O-Lantern
Your Halloween pumpkins can enjoy renewed life as compost, bringing a grin to your face when discovering all the benefits compost delivers to your landscape. The organic matter has been transformed into nutrient rich food for your soil - making it the perfect soil amendment and lawn top dressing. Naturally!
Compost Facilities Can Help
If you don’t have your own composter, check with your local city garbage collection service. More cities are implementing green waste recycling as an additional service, and this is the ideal spot for our discarded pumpkins. If your community doesn’t offer this service contact your local compost facility to find out about alternatives. If you use pumpkins at Halloween, make a little extra effort to keep them out of the landfill.
Greenhouse Gas News reports that global methane emissions from landfill are estimated to be between 30 and 70 million tons each year. Most of this landfill methane currently comes from developed countries, where the levels of waste tend to be highest. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that municipal solid waste landfills are the second largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for nearly 23 % of emissions in 2009.
If you don’t have your own composter, check with your local city garbage collection service. More cities are implementing green waste recycling as an additional service, and this is the ideal spot for our discarded pumpkins. If your community doesn’t offer this service contact your local compost facility to find out about alternatives. If you use pumpkins at Halloween, make a little extra effort to keep them out of the landfill.
Greenhouse Gas News reports that global methane emissions from landfill are estimated to be between 30 and 70 million tons each year. Most of this landfill methane currently comes from developed countries, where the levels of waste tend to be highest. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that municipal solid waste landfills are the second largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for nearly 23 % of emissions in 2009.
Let’s all pitch in to keep compostable organics out of our landfills! Everything we can do to reduce our contribution of compostable materials to local landfills is a reduction in greenhouse gas production.
For more info, check out http://www.gotcompost.com/ We're here to help you with all your compost needs.
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