Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
NATICK, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Consider the plight of the pumpkin... hugely popular right up through Halloween.
But after Oct. 31, not so much.
Tons of pumpkins are tossed in the garbage.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates more than 1 billion pounds of pumpkins wind up in landfills every year, about as much weight as every Boeing 747 ever made combined.
But Nicky Wilson of Natick Community Organic Farm said it doesn't have to be that way.
She said pre-planning is essential. "The first thing to think about before all that is, how many pumpkins are you buying?" she said. "What are you going to do with them?"
Wilson said there are a lot of things that can be done with pumpkins before they are thrown away, including eating them, as they get carved. "You can dry the seeds out, you can roast them, now you have pumpkin seeds to eat."
She said just about all the parts of a pumpkin are edible. "The whole of the pumpkin can be eaten in some way, shape, or form."
Though Natick Community Organic Farm won't take public pumpkins for animal feed, many local farms do.
They're typically fed to pigs and chickens, who love them.
Another classic option is composting.
Experts say the best way to compost pumpkins is by mixing in a good deal of "brown" material, like straw or dry leaves, to balance out the wet pumpkin.
WBZ NewsRadio's Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.