MACOMB, Ill. — Do you have a plan for your Jack-o-lantern once Halloween has come and gone? It turns out, its final destination shouldn't be the landfill.
Even though pumpkins are biodegradable, when they break down into organic waste, they produce the potent greenhouse gas methane. Not only is that harmful to the atmosphere, but the decaying pumpkin also leaches water that can filter through trash piles and pollute nearby waterways.
So instead of tossing your pumpkins, the Illinois Extension Office wants you to smash them!
At a pumpkin smash event, the pumpkins are broken down and composted, which contains any harmful gasses. It also produces material that can be spread on fields and in gardens as fertilizer. And, as Extension officials put it, the event is also a great stress reliever, allowing you to whack at the gourds.
Illinois pumpkin smashes were started in 2014 by the statewide environmental nonprofit SCARCE. Illinois Extension joined the effort with its first pumpkin smash in 2019. They've almost entirely been concentrated in the Chicagoland area. But this year, Extension is bringing the pumpkin smash to two QCA locations.
According to SCARCE, these pumpkin smash events have composted more than 1,250 tons of pumpkins in the past ten years. That's reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 926 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. It's also diverted more than 269,000 gallons of water from landfills.
You can see the full list of Illinois pumpkin smash events here. Locally, they'll be held at:
- Dixon
- Nov. 2 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
- At Sauk Valley Community College, 173 IL-2, Dixon, Illinois 61021
- You can contact kemmerer@illinois.edu with questions
- Macomb
- Nov. 9 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- At Veteran's Park, 1800 E. University Drive, Macomb, Illinois 61455
- You can contact kbudde@illinois.edu or cenroth@illinois.edu with questions
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