Halloween night is fast approaching! By now you’ve probably decorated your yard and picked out the perfect Halloween pumpkin to carve. But what happens to your pumpkin after the big night? Pumpkins don’t belong in a landfill! There are a few tasty, crafty, and responsible things you can do with your used pumpkin instead of dumping it at the end of your driveway.

What do you do with pumpkins after Halloween?

Here are 6 ways you can recycle, reuse, or responsibly dispose of Halloween pumpkins.

1. Compost Your Pumpkin

Just like other vegetables, pumpkins are completely compostable. They belong in the green bin, not in the garbage.

2. Eat Your Pumpkin

Turn your pumpkin into a sweet treat! Try baking pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin squares, or one of the other many delicious fall pumpkin desserts.

3. Harvest Your Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds make a delicious and healthy snack. But if you’re not hungry, you can plant them in your garden instead and watch them grow next fall!

4. Make a Pumpkin Planter

Instead of getting rid of Halloween pumpkins, spruce up your front porch with beautiful pumpkin planters. It's a simple and easy project that's fun and satisfying. If using a fresh pumpkin, hollow out the center. If you've carved the pumpkin already, make sure to line the insides with landscaping cloth to prevent the soil from falling out.

5. Donate Your Pumpkins to Your Local Zoo

Many animals enjoy eating pumpkins! Your local zoo can feed your leftovers to the bears and large cats. Alternatively, you can cut up your pumpkins and feed them to the birds and squirrels in your own backyard (just make sure there aren’t any bears in your area!)

6. Keep Your Pumpkin For a Bit Longer

Even after Halloween ends the holiday spirit can live on! __________________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for more recycling tips and tricks? Check out these other blogs: bottom banner CleanRiver Recycling provides a variety of innovative, flexible, and customizable recycling solutions. To determine the right solution to meet your needs, use the CleanRiver product selector. If you have additional questions that weren’t answered in this blog post please call us at 1-866-479-4038 or email solutions@cleanriver.com.