Every year, pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, and colors, along with arrays of decorative squash, adorn our homes to welcome fall. But as the seasons shift again, many of those gourds are thrown away, left to rot in landfills. Montana Public Radio's Ellis Juhlin sat down with Austin Amestoy to discuss alternatives to throwing pumpkins in the trash.
Austin Amestoy So, Ellis, do you have any pumpkins left at your house right now?
Ellis Juhlin You know, I don't. I have a friendly neighborhood yard bear, or I guess not so friendly if you're a pumpkin. So I did not have pumpkins on my porch this year, but I do still have quite a few on my table and my fireplace mantel that I'll be whipping up into some other delicious recipes this weekend.
Austin Amestoy Do we have any idea just how many really are thrown away in terms of like amount nationally, I suppose?
Ellis Juhlin Yeah, that's a great question, Austin. And it turns out that about 2 billion pounds of pumpkins are grown in the United States every year, and the majority of those end up in the landfill once the holidays are over.
Austin Amestoy Wow. Yeah, I mean, billions on the national level. What about more locally in Montana? Do we have any idea what that number looks like in our community?
Ellis Juhlin Yeah, you know, it's a hard number to quantify because I think your pumpkin purchasing varies from one year to the next. But there's a local composting company here in Missoula that does a big event to try and divert pumpkins from the landfill. And last year, they were able to collect about 6,000 pounds of pumpkins just here in the Missoula area. And that diverts about 23,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, because when trash goes into the landfill, it's built up on different layers of things. It's not the kind of environment where something like a pumpkin is able to decompose as it naturally would. So it releases a lot of planet warming emissions and has a really big environmental impact.
Austin Amestoy So you mentioned an organization just then that can help people divert their pumpkins from the landfill. What are some options for folks who don't want to just throw the gourd away?
Ellis Juhlin So Soil Cycle, that company in Missoula, like I mentioned, is collecting pumpkins again. There's also similar compost companies in Bozeman that are doing that sort of a thing. But some of the other things you can do are actually eating pumpkins. They're not really the kind of pumpkins that we would think of that make up a pie, the kinds that we like to carve. But they work really well in all sorts of other recipes. I've had luck feeding them to my husband in breads and soups and feeding them to my dogs in dog treats. So don't feed your yard bears, feed your dogs pumpkin.
Austin Amestoy Great. You can eat them. You can make recipes for your dogs. You can compost them. What do organizations like Soil Cycle do with those pumpkins after they collect them?
Ellis Juhlin They actually gather up all those pumpkins and drop them off at a local farm where they are devoured by a variety of farm animals.
Austin Amestoy Any chance we might hear some farm animal sounds in a follow up story here in a while Ellis?
Ellis Juhlin Stay tuned for my next iteration in the path of the pumpkin story where I will be attending that drop off event and watching a variety of animals feast on pumpkins.
Austin Amestoy Well, we'll look forward to it. Ellis, thanks for sharing some reporting with us.
Ellis Juhlin Thanks, Austin.
