Merton Council is calling on residents to make the most of their pumpkins this Halloween.

Rather than wasting the million pumpkins sold each year over Halloween by throwing them in the bin, households are encouraged to eat the versatile food and compost or recycle the remains through the food waste recycling service.

Roasted pumpkin seeds make a tasty snack and the flesh can be used for anything from pumpkin soup to pumpkin pie. The Love Food Hate Waste campaign has some great easy pumpkin recipe ideas on their website http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for inspiration.

Once the scary pumpkins have done their decorating duty, they can be added to a compost bin to add nutrition to garden soil ready for spring planting.

As families look for ways to save money on their household bills, many people aren’t aware that food waste costs us up to £50 a month and also has a serious impact on the environment too. In the UK, households throw away 4 million apples, 5 million potatoes and 37 million slices of bread every day and avoidable food and drink waste is associated with five per cent of the total water used in the UK. One tonne of avoidable food and drink waste uses an average of more than million litres of water.

Cabinet Member for environmental sustainability and regeneration, Councillor Andrew Judge said: “Sending pumpkins and other organic waste such as vegetable peelings to landfill is not sustainable or good for the environment. As well as reducing landfill, composting means you can improve your soil and put goodness back into the garden. Households can save waste and money by changing small habits within their homes.”

Residents who don’t already have a compost bin can order one from Merton Council from only £5 plus £5.49 delivery at http://www.merton.gov.uk/compost or call 020 8545 4654. For information about recycling go to http://www.merton.gov.uk/recycling call 020 8274 4902.

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Press Contact:
Leoni Munslow
Communications Officer
London Borough of Merton
020 8545 4654