The fate of Halloween pumpkins

Every year, millions of Americans carve jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. But what do you do with the pumpkins come November 1? (Clare Shanahan)

Fall is full of many traditions; we’ve talked about leaves and apples, so let's get into pumpkins. I’ve always been a fall lover, being from New England, having a fall birthday and relishing in all of the annual traditions. But pumpkins, as fun as they are to carve, create a huge amount of waste.

Every year between 164 million and 344 million pumpkins end up in landfills in the U.S. after Halloween. This is because most Americans will buy at least one pumpkin and many Americans plan to throw them out after use. As pumpkins decompose, they emit methane which is an extremely powerful greenhouse gas.

While pumpkins will release methane into the atmosphere when breaking down in a landfill, if they are allowed to break down at home as compost the nutrients will return to the soil and can be used to provide new life to future plants. The difference between the two processes, is that composting organic materials like pumpkins allows them to break down aerobically, meaning with oxygen, and therefore they won’t produce methane in the same way as in a landfill. In a landfill, organic materials break down anaerobically — without oxygen — which means that they will produce methane. If you are composting your pumpkin at home, be sure to look up the best way to do so; you will need to remove any nonorganic materials from the pumpkin and it helps to smash it so that it can break down more easily.

Other options to use pumpkins include cooking and eating all parts of the pumpkin. Roasted pumpkin seeds make a great snack; pumpkin puree made from the flesh of the pumpkin can be used to make everything from pie, to drinks and other desserts; Pumpkin guts can be added to broth, used to make hummus and in lots of other ways; Finally pumpkin skin can even be used to make pumpkin chips! Or, you could use the pumpkin as food for your own farm animals or even donate it to a local farm. Pumpkins for Pigs lets you find local farms that will accept pumpkins as donation.

I’ve always stuck to the method of roasting pumpkin seeds and letting the rest of the pumpkin decompose in a backyard compost pile, but maybe I should be thinking more about how to use my jack-o-lantern this year.