Avoid waste horror – recycle your pumpkin after Halloween
Residents are being urged not to let their Halloween pumpkins go to waste.
Once the celebrations are over, pumpkins can be cut up and placed them in the food waste bin to be picked up as part of the usual weekly collection.
If the bin is full, leave whole pumpkins beside it and we will take them.
Cllr Norman MacRae, Cabinet Member for the Environment at West Oxfordshire District Council, said: “For me one of the scariest parts of Halloween is the thought of all those pumpkins going to waste.
“There are lots of recipes for pumpkin and anything you don’t use can go into the food waste to make organic compost for next year’s crop.”
Last year, with the help of residents, the District Council collected more than 4,000 tonnes of food waste in West Oxfordshire which was taken to the processing plant near Cassington to be recycled into electricity and organic fertiliser.
Cllr MacRae added: “It’s not just your pumpkins that can be recycled either. Any other food leftovers, cooked or raw, can go in your food waste bin.”
If pumpkins are still edible, they can be used for cooking - see the Love Food, Hate Waste website for recipe ideas:
https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/article/save-your-halloween-pumpkins-bin#page-header
For more information about waste and recycling in West Oxfordshire, or to order a free food waste bin and kitchen caddy, see www.westoxon.gov.uk/bins or call 01993 861000.