Don’t trash your pumpkins after Halloween, compost them!

While we are all still at home, we are looking for new ways to implement sustainability into our daily lives; with Halloween this weekend and Illinois being one of the top producers of pumpkins in the U.S., help divert food waste from landfills by composting your pumpkins. Pumpkins are made of 90 percent water, which is not good for the landfills.

Below are two organizations in the state who are collecting pumpkins to compost for free.

Plant Chicago

The University of Illinois Extension and Plant Chicago are hosting a pumpkin smash from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on November 7 at 4459 S. Marshfield Ave., Chicago. Last year, 3.17 tons of pumpkins were collected at the smash, and Illinois Extension hopes to surpass that in 2020. Learn more.

Scarce

For the suburbanites who want to smash their pumpkins to compost them, Scarce is hosting one the same day in dozens of locations from 9 a.m. to noon. Scarce first hosted pumpkin collections in Elmhurst and Wheaton in 2014, and by 2016 there were over 31 locations diverting 9.31 tons of pumpkins from landfills. Below are the suburbs hosting collections, learn more here: scarce.org/pumpkins/.

Suburban locations: