2 million pumpkins are estimated to end up in the bin each Halloween. Left to rot in landfill, these pumpkins will eventually decompose and emit methane, a gas with more than 20 times the warming effects of carbon dioxide. In Powys alone we go through 15,000 pumpkins at Halloween, creating 75 extra tonnes of food waste in the process. That’s equivalent to 25 elephants! So there is definitely cause to use as much of our pumpkins as possible.

Lots of people advertise and share posts online about the benefits of leaving pumpkins out for wildlife, and there are many benefits! However, the strategy of leaving old pumpkins on the doorstep can actually harm, more than benefit, our wildlife. Hedgehogs, one of our nation’s favourites, get bouts of diarrhoea from eating pumpkins. This is a life-threatening sickness that leaves them dehydrated and can become fatal.

We’re asking everyone this year to reuse their pumpkin in a different way, in order to protect our wildlife. Here are some of our ideas:

Harvest the seeds and make a feeder.

1. Remove the seeds and dry them by baking them in the oven for 10 minutes at 180C/gas 4.
2. Take the lid off of your pumpkin, and add four holes. These are best done on two different levels.
3. Push through strong sticks so they jut out on each side. These will be used to hang the pumpkin and to act as perches for the birds.
4. Tie lengths of twine around each stick, then tie them all together at the top.
5. Add in your now cooled pumpkin seeds, and any other bird feed you like to use.
6. Hang your new feeder on a sturdy garden branch.

Top tip: clean your feeder regularly and make sure you compost/food waste bin it once the pumpkin starts to rot. This will become harmful to the birds. Make sure to only hang this in your own garden as doing so in a public place can damage the soil ecology and disrupt the ecosystem.

Harvest the flesh and bury it in the soil for creepy crawlies.

1. If you’re confident your pumpkin is organic, and hasn’t been treated with pesticides, then adding it to your soil can have huge benefits for the minibeasts therein.
2. Remember to remove any pumpkin seeds, unless you plan to grow your own next year!
3. Cut up small chunks of the pumpkin and bury them 25cm deep in the soil.

Harvest the flesh and seeds and take a look online what yummy things you can cook.

1. Check out this link for some great recipes: Save your Halloween pumpkin waste from the bin | Love Food Hate Waste