With Halloween now a thing of the past, Metro Vancouver officials are appealing to residents to consider options other than the trash for their jack-o’-lanterns.
Suggestions include a reminder to residents of single-family homes that they may add their pumpkins to their yard-trimmings container.
Those who compost are encouraged to add their chopped-up gourds to backyard, kitchen or balcony composters; or, shredded pumpkin chunks can be placed in a shallow trench dug into a vegetable or flower garden.
It’s estimated at least 200,000 pumpkins were carved in Metro Vancouver this year. The number equates to 1,000 metric tonnes of the gourds. If added to landfills, the pumpkins will contribute to the creation of methane, a greenhouse gas. By diverting them from the dumps, about 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent is eliminated.
For more information, visit www.metrovancouver.org