After the treats have been collected and the costumes put away, what do you do with your pumpkin?

Port Coquitlam residents are reminded to place their pumpkins into their green carts for curbside pickup immediately following Halloween festivities, along with their other food scraps and yard trimmings. The BC Conservation Office is also advising people to not put out their pumpkins too early this year as the smell attracts bears into the neighbourhoods.

The pumpkins and other green cart materials go to a regional composting facility, where they are turned into soil amendments that are sold to farmers and gardeners. If a quarter of households that carve a pumpkin place it in their green cart, thousands of pounds of material is diverted away from the landfill.

Other ideas for a green Halloween:

• Like squash, pumpkin is edible and tasty – and the seeds can also be roasted. Look for recipes online.
• Chop your pumpkin into pieces and place them in your backyard composter or bury them in your garden.
• Re-use and recycle as much as possible when making costumes and decorations, rather than buying new.
• Supply your children with reusable bags for collecting candy.
• Give out treats that have a minimum of packaging.
• Unwanted unwrapped candy can also be dropped into the green cart rather than the trash.
• Collect plastic candy wrappers in a bag and return them to a participating Recycle BC.

Close to one-third of all household waste consists of food scraps, food-soiled papers and yard trimmings suitable for composting. Composting these materials, either via a City green cart or a backyard composter, is an easy way to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions produced by landfills.

Find more information about earth-friendly disposal options at portcoquitlam.ca/waste.

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CONTACT

Tom Madigan
Section Manager of Fleet and Solid Waste
City of Port Coquitlam
T: 604-927-5361
E: madigant@portcoquitlam.ca