Halloween need not be the Festival of Food waste

Community groups, local authorities, Environmental and  Food Groups, Allotment Societies, Schools, Scouts, Guides  and food fanatics can all help reduce waste at Halloween by taking part in our Leicester and Leicestershire Pumpkin Rescue events.

It is estimated that in the UK up to four million pumpkins are brought to carve and display over Halloween with the edible flesh of these pumpkins being discarded as waste and ending up with most of the lanterns in landfill. This produces an additional 18,000 tons of landfill waste directly attributable to the Halloween festivities. This, according to the environmental charity Hubbub, is equivalent to 360 million portions of pumpkin pie.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture states that 1.91 billion pounds of pumpkins where grown in the USA in 2014 most of which, as in the UK, where used for carving and then thrown away,

 Much of this waste is due to people being unaware of the versatility of pumpkin flesh as a food or not realising that the fresh discarded when carving the pumpkin can be eaten. It is calculated that in the UK only 33% cook the fresh of the pumpkins they carve out. On this basis, farmers are growing acres of food just for it to be thrown away

Carve it,  Cook it, Eat it , Compost it

 Join us in reducing pumpkin waste while celebrating halloween

1. Provide pumpkin recipes and cooking advice
2. Organise a carved pumpkin event and photograph  the pumpkins and carvers in your Community Centre or school before sending the pumpkins to them to Stokes Wood Allotment  for display. Encourage carvers to cook the flesh from the pumpkins
3. Book a place on the Pumpkin Lunch at Stokes wood and bring a pumpkin dish to share
4. Best Carved pumpkin judging at Stokes Wood Allotment
5. Pumpkin Smash at Stokes Wood Allotment Compost Demonstration site  Take part in the smashing of the carved pumpkins and start composting them

If you are interested in supporting one or more of these events please contact

Carryoncomposting1@gmail.com    www.carryoncomposting.com