Do you have a post Halloween pumpkin plan? It may sound strange but Halloween pumpkins are a huge source of food waste and there are some great alternatives to dispose of your pumpkins that don’t involve throwing them in the trash.

Ways to reduce pumpkin waste:

• Feed the pigs! Call your local farms to see which accept pumpkins. Many of them will let you feed them to the pigs or other farm animals. Or, you can drop them off.

• Compost them!

  • In your backyard compost.

  • In your municipality. If your town doesn’t offer composting, now is a great time to ask them to start.

  • Local gardens and farms often have programs to accept them.

• Eat them! If you haven’t turned them into Jack O'Lanterns (or if you only just did so), you can roast pumpkin flesh and make all sorts of delicious dishes. My favorite are these pumpkin muffins by Minimalist Baker. I also recently tried these pumpkin muffins by Nora Cooks and they were like mini cakes. You can also roast the seeds. And, since the famous Pumpkin Spice Lattes are not vegan, you can go ahead and make your own Vegan PSL, too.

Remember, when bringing to the farm or to compost, check with each place if you have painted your pumpkins as many may not accepted painted pumpkins.