29. Aug, 2020

Halloween is coming: Save the pumpkin to eat and compost

Pumpkin Rescue 2020
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
While the most common variety for pumpkin grown for Halloween carving in the USA (the Howden) may not provide as much flavour as varieties grown specifically for eating but still make tasty soups and pies. There are many very tasty squashes and pumpkins suitable for home and allotment growing that can be used to carve different shaped lanterns these all have flesh high in fibre and beta-carotene that should not be wasted. Will you help reduce pumpkin waste by promoting cooking with and composting pumpkin? Can you get your local pub to put pumpkin on their menu? If so we will put their details on the website . There are details activities and photos of Leicester 2019 events at