Happy Halloween! Halloween festivities have been somewhat soggy this year, but that has not stopped spooky revellers investing in food, costumes, decorations and of course, pumpkins!
A soaring popularity of pumpkin related activities – from visiting pumpkin patches, to ‘pick your own’ and of course, pumpkin carving – means that we can expect an estimated 40 million pumpkins to be purchased this Halloween! However, the real scare is post-Halloween pumpkin waste as over 50% of pumpkins bought will be sent to landfill.
Why is this? It is all too easy to forget that pumpkins are food. It is estimated that only 59% of people are aware that pumpkins are edible!
However, there’s so many solutions to pumpkin waste this Halloween. Wyndham Resources have prepared some tips for you to follow this Halloween:
- Eat your pumpkin.
Whether you are talented in the kitchen or not, there’s plenty you can do with your pumpkin remains! Make a risotto, pumpkin pie, hearty soup, or a spiced rum pumpkin milkshake. Discover endless recipes online.
- Recycle your pumpkin!
Food waste is 100% recyclable – pumpkins included!
Households and supermarkets (along with any retailer of pumpkins) should make provision to responsibly recycle their pumpkins.
- Compost it!
Cut your pumpkin into small pieces and add it to your green bin or compost heap.
- Bury it.
Bury your pumpkin in your garden.
- Feed wildlife
Cut your pumpkin up and leave it in your garden for wildlife to enjoy! Remember that pumpkins can be harmful to some animals – i.e., hedgehogs.
- Harvest your pumpkin.
Harvest your pumpkin seeds for next year!
There’s so much you can do to make sure your fright night is sustainable.
Year-on-year, supermarkets strive to sell the largest and of course the cheapest of pumpkins! Whilst they do consider the pumpkin problem – that so many pumpkins end up at landfill – not enough is being done.
Some stores have arranged for pumpkin rescue stations which provide consumers an opportunity to return their pumpkin for recycling.
Wyndham Resources is a sustainability focused waste management and recycling company. Wyndham understands that operating in the food and drink manufacturing/retail sector can be challenging, but food, when recycled, is 100% recyclable. The company Anaerobic Digestion facilities can accept large volumes of food waste for reprocessing – reducing the impact that businesses have on the environment; food waste recycled by anaerobic digestion produces energy heat and power.
If you are a supermarket looking to recycle your left-over pumpkins this Halloween or have a long term food waste enquiry, contact Wyndham’s Director of Operations, Steve Watts, today – operations@wyndhamresources.co.uk
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