Recycle Utah

Nonprofit Summit County, Utah Recycling Center

halloween

What To Do with Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns

by

With Halloween coming around the corner, you’re probably getting excited about decorating, making plans with friends, and stocking up on candy… I know I am!  However, as we go into another holiday of mass consumerism, it’s crucial to consider how we can make our actions more sustainable. 

One of the most favored Halloween activities is pumpkin carving. Pumpkin carving is fun and overall, not harmful to the environment. However, when pumpkins are simply disposed of in the garbage, they wind up in a landfill, where, like other organic waste, release harmful methane gas into the atmosphere; methane captures 25 times more heat than carbon dioxide, contributing heavily to global warming.

Composting offers a solution! Composting pumpkins allows for beneficial reuse of organic material being recycled back to the earth, without releasing harmful gases. In Park City, we have great resources for compost disposal, including dropping off your pumpkins at Recycle Utah after Halloween to be composted at Spoil to Soil.

Out of the millions of pumpkins purchased in the U.S. every October, how many will end up in landfills? Composting your pumpkins helps significantly with this problem, and here in Park City, it’s easy and accessible. Additionally, pumpkins are in fact edible! Try saving more of your pumpkin by harvesting the seeds, making pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie, and so much more.

By Grayson Rae, Sophomore at Park City High School

Have a Happy Green Halloween Season!

by

Have a Happy Green Halloween Season!

There are lots of easy ways to make your Halloween green this year. The holiday is often marked by plastic-fibered cheaply produced costumes, masks and decorations that are made in highly polluting overseas factories and shipped to big box stores. Americans spend billions of dollars on this stuff. And after a year or two? Many of us throw it in the trash. Instead, donate your used costumes or use pieces to re-costume. Check out thrift shops and swap costumes with friends for “new” costumes. Create costumes from recyclables. Sew up some custom outfits or rent something “spooktacular.”

“Trick or treat!” Halloween’s #1 fun-filled activity is about collecting individual plastic-wrapped sweets in plastic bags or pails. Instead, use small recyclable or reusable bags and consider how many sweets you want your children and you to eat. Leftovers? Don’t throw them away—drop the sweets off at Recycle Utah for a staff treat!

Pumpkins galore! Often trucked to us from faraway commercial farms. We carve them into Halloween faces. Fun! Most end up in landfills where, like all food waste, they produce methane gas. Instead pick out locally grown pumpkins, gourds, and corn stalks. Use pumpkin flesh for baking; seeds for roasting a tasty snack. Leftover pieces are nutritious food for animals such as squirrels and deer. Compost pumpkins, gourds, and corn stalks. Stay tuned for more sustainable pumpkin disposal tips in a Green Tip later this month.

To make the best green Halloween check out Summit County, Park City, and Heber Valley visitor websites for a list of local fall family activities you might not otherwise think of: fall harvest festivals and hay rides, corn mazes, Halloween yards, WitchFest, Pumpkin Days, Little Haunts, Halloween train rides, Haunted Hollows, Halloween films, and even an opportunity to swim with pumpkins! Don’t miss Halloween on Historic Main Street in Park City!

By Bev Harrison