Avoid the landfill and compost your Autumn pumpkins this year with Pumpkin Smash

Many households like to use pumpkins for a colorful decoration this time of year and if you celebrate Halloween, you probably carve your pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. But what do you do with your Halloween pumpkins when November arrives? If you usually just throw it in the trash there is a better option for disposing of your jack-o-lanterns. Composting is a great option to keep your pumpkins out of the landfill. According to WasteDive.com more than 1 billion pounds of pumpkins go to the landfill every year in the United States.  

Since 2014 Chicagoland has a pumpkin composting option and has diverted over 538 tons of pumpkins from the landfill thanks to SCARCE. The Pumpkin Smash is an annual event for communities to divert pumpkins from landfills to be composted. As SCARCE says: “Don’t Trash it, Smash it!” 

If you are wondering why we should keep pumpkins out of the landfill, here are some reasons according to SCARCE:  

• Avoids landfill greenhouse gas emissions from decomposing organics (currently, landfills are the 3rd largest producers of methane in the U.S.!) 
• Produces a useful, nutrient-dense soil amendment
• Pumpkins are 90% water which is great for our soil,
  not so good in our landfills

Many communities in Cook County are hosting 2021 Pumpkin Smash events including these: 

• Evanston: November 6, 2021, 9am-noon at the Civic Center 
• Glencoe: November 6, 2021, 10am-noon at the Glencoe Community Garden (380 Old Green Bay Rd) 
• Morton Grove: November 6, 2021, 10am-noon at the North end of Harrer Park 
• Hoffman Estates: November 6, 2021, 10am-noon at Public Works 
  Wilmette: November 6, 2021, 9am-3pm at Centennial Park Parking Lot
• Wilmette: November 6, 2021, 9am-3pm at Village Hall Parking Lot
• Skokie: November 7, 2021, 7:30am-12:30pm at Skokie Farmers Market (Oakton St and Floral Ave) 
• Park Ridge: November 6, 2021, 9am-noon at Public Works
• Chicago: November 6, 2021, noon-4pm at Fire Station Engine 70 parking lot (6040 N. Clark St)
• Chicago: November 6, 2021, 10am-2pm at Lake View High School parking lot
• Chicago: November 6, 2021, 9am-noon at Chicago – Guild Row (3130 N Rockwell St)
• Chicago: November 6, 2021, 9am-3pm at Plant Chicago @ The Firehouse (4459 S. Marshfield)
• Chicago: November 6, 2021, 10am-2pm at Gary Comer Youth Center- Urban Farm (7200 S. Ingleside Ave)
• Chicago: November 6, 2021, 10am-2pm at Chicago Vocational High School parking lot (2100 E. 87^th St)
• Chicago: November 6, 2021, 10am-2pm at Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences parking lot (3857 W. 111th St)
• Blue Island: November 6, 2021, 5pm-7pm at Blue Island Memorial Park Field House 
• River Forest: November 6, 2021, 9am-noon at Roosevelt Middle School
  Elmhurst: November 6, 2021, 9am-noon at Public Works
• Westchester: November 6 and 7, 2021 at Westchester Community Church (10201 Bond St)
• La Grange: November 6, 2021, 10am-noon at La Grange Park Public Works
• Western Springs: November 6, 2021, 9am-noon at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church (5005 Wolf Rd) 

You can find a map with more details and all of the locations of 2021 Pumpkin Smash events here.