With Halloween soon upon us, Warwickshire residents are again being challenged to avoid sending their pumpkin remains to a grisly end buried in landfill or burned at the Energy from Waste plant.
Every year, one million pumpkins are sold across the country. The vast majority of these are carved into lanterns for celebrations on 31 October, with their contents being tossed into the bin without a second thought.
This Halloween, residents are being reminded that as well as using the shells for carving, they can also use the insides of the pumpkins to make many delicious recipes such as pumpkin soup, pumpkin tart or even pumpkin lasagne. Seeds can even be baked for a delicious snack.
Any bits of the pumpkin that aren’t used can either be recycled through your kerbside service or home composted. When recycling at the kerbside, use your food waste caddy or if there is no space, place next to your caddy on the day of collection.
Add pumpkin waste to your home compost bin, where it will break down safely and help provide a nitrogen rich ingredient to make compost, which is a nutritious addition to your garden soil. Warwickshire County Council is continuing to offer home compost bins at subsidised prices. 220 litre bins can be purchased for just £18 or the larger 330 litre bins for just £30 (plus delivery). You can also buy a second bin for half price.
Order online by visiting: www.getcomposting.com or call 0800 316 4454.
Cllr Darren Cheshire, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Environment, Heritage and Culture, said: “By composting and recycling food waste like pumpkin remains, residents can divert a huge amount of organic waste from general waste. Disposal of general waste is the most expensive form of waste treatment, so by recycling your food waste, you are saving Warwickshire tax payers’ money.
It’s estimated that if everyone used their food waste recycling service, it would save more than £2.5 million every year.”
More information on composting, food waste, recycling, your kerbside recycling containers, or for handy hints and tips on what can and can’t be recycled visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/recycling
For further recipe ideas visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com