Smash it, don't trash your pumpkin with the University of Illinois in November

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — The University of Illinois Extension office reminds people not to trash it; smash it when it comes to their pumpkins this Halloween.

Many of us will decorate with pumpkins, carve them, or even paint them this fall. But what do you do when the season is ending, and you have a pumpkin about to rot on your porch?

Instead of throwing your pumpkins away, The U of I Extension suggests smashing them.

According to Illinois Extension pumpkins are organic waste that produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as they decompose without oxygen in landfills. Decaying pumpkins also release water that filters through the trash piles, polluting nearby waterways.

To combat the pumpkin pollution, Illinois Extension will hold smash events in collaboration with SCARCE, an Illinois environmental non-profit that started Pumpkin Smashes in 2014.

Pumpkin Smash Instructions

Find a smash event site near you by checking out the calendar at go.illinois.edu/PumpkinSmash or SCARCE.org/Pumpkins.
Collect pumpkins from the home, neighborhood, school, or workplace.
Remove candles, ribbons, paint, and any other non-organic materials.
Drop off pumpkins at a smash site on the date and time of the specific event. Each site may vary with the methods of smashing or depositing pumpkins available.
The pumpkins are transported to a composting facility following the event.

Macon County hosts one at the Rock Springs Nature Center on November 2 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and McLean County at Rader Family Farms on November 2 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.