Composting jack-o’-lanterns and pumpkins is catching on as communities offer super fun, creative ways to use and recycle them

Last year, Eaton County Parks and Recreation Department held its first “Pumpkin Chuck” event at Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge.  Participants brought jack-o’-lanterns and pumpkins and catapulted them into the sky to say goodbye. Organizers had planned to feed the remains of the squash to wildlife in the park. The event proved to be so popular that the amount of jack-o’-lanterns in the field was too much.  So, they contacted a local company to haul away the remains and compost them.

Traverse City has its second Pumpkin Smashing Extravaganza scheduled Nov. 8.  Locals can join in to hear from the Lord of the Gourd, one of Michigan’s renowned pumpkin carvers, who will be showcasing his while others share captivating Halloween stories. Last year’s inaugural program collected three tons of pumpkin waste for composting. That exceeded the city’s one-ton goal by far. 

Michigan State University’s Pumpkin Plop event returns to campus on Nov. 1 and runs through Nov. 15 at its drop-off center.  Collected pumpkins will be composted. 

At Greenfield Village in Dearborn, the Hallowe’en event features a thousand carved pumpkins on display through the Village to delight attenders. To prepare for the event held on weekends in October, staff and volunteers clean out the pumpkins, and the insides are set aside for composting.

These events are examples of Michigan municipalities and others offering new, creative ways to reuse and recycle jack-o’-lanterns and whole pumpkins so they don’t end up in a landfill.

Every year, Americans throw away over 1 billion pounds of pumpkins destined for landfills where they decompose.  When they decompose, they create methane which is a significant contributor to climate change. Michigan alone is estimated to produce 79 million pounds of pumpkins every year, ranking fourth in the nation.

Instead of tossing your whole or jack-o’-lantern pumpkins in the trash, consider these alternatives to use them in a more sustainable way.

• Drop-off pumpkins and jack-o’- lanterns at community collection sites that will compost them. Check with area municipalities and universities for special Halloween-related drop-off sites.
  • Also, check the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE)  recycling directory that lists locations that take food scraps. (Just type " food scraps" into the field where it says, "What are you looking to recycle?" Before taking your jack-o'-lantern there, be sure to verify the location’s collection details and policies.)