WLSSD’s Pumpkin Palooza keeps pumpkins out of the landfill

With this year’s Halloween coming to a close, folks gathered their Jack-o-Lanterns to bring to the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District’s (WLSSD) pumpkin palooza.

At the pumpkin collection event, community members had the chance to compost their pumpkins instead of throwing them away.

WLSSD says they “recycle the nutrients and organic matter of food and yard waste as compost” this year’s Jack-o-lanterns will be a part of that process.

Aside from composting, the Pumpkin Palooza hosted pumpkin games, fall crafts, hot cocoa, balloon twisting and tours of their composting site.

“We try to keep food scraps and yard waste out of the landfill. There’s still a lot of life, a lot of nutrients, organic matter in those materials, and we can turn it into compost. So, we were excited to welcome the community down to bring us their pumpkins,” said Environmental Program Coordinator Dori Decker. “We may have pumpkins that are getting a little squishy, maybe pass their time, and we were able to enjoy them, but now they can move on to their second life as compost.”

If you missed out on Pumpkin Palooza, you can still drop off your pumpkins in the WLSSD leaf pile.

WLSSD’s composting site is set to close for the season on November 23rd.