Halloween originated as a Celtic Holiday of Samhain, but it has evolved from rituals which involve magic to a day of parties, trick-or-treating and costumes. Studies show that we are attracted to Halloween due to its adrenaline rush, and the dopamine we receive from overcoming the fear gives us a high. Additionally, Halloween is a great time to feel a sense of escapism with friends and family. Among these activities, pumpkin carving has become a popular way to decorate for Halloween and unfortunately, this creates a huge amount of waste each year, 18,000 tonnes to be precise. Here are some ways to get your money’s worth out of your punking and reduce its waste!
Buy small
Large pumpkins are usually only grown for carving consumption, therefore a large amount of pumpkin production is made purely for waste. Whereas, traditional smaller pumpkins taste sweeter, are cheaper, look adorable and create significantly less waste.
Decorate
Instead of carving your pumpkin, try decorating it like this one. Not only will it last longer until you’re ready to eat it, but it opens up many creative ideas!
Eat
There are so many recipes out there which show you how to make various pumpkin dishes, here are some at-home cooking ideas involving pumpkins:
- Cake
- Muffins
- Pasta
- Pie
- syrup
- Pancakes
- Curry
- Soup
- Hummous
- Bread
Pumpkins also have many nutritional values which help to maintain a healthy immune system, increase heart health, and reduce the likeliness of impaired vision.
Compost
Composting is a great way of regenerating food waste, once it has decomposed you can:
- Use it as feed for plants
- Rake through grass to regenerate it
- Use it as top-soil to retain moisture in the roots of plants
- Use it as a weed suppressant
Make sure to take any decorations off and chop the pumpkin into smaller pieces to allow it to decompose faster.
Leave a comment if you have any other spooky zero-waste ideas!
Not My Monkey 
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