About 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins end up in landfills each year, but across the country, people find new ways to keep them in use after Halloween night. Gardens, community programs and kitchens are new destinations for pumpkins that once went straight to the trash. With these efforts, communities build simple habits that make spooky season a little less wasteful.

To keep pumpkins useful, many households compost them for nutrient-rich soil, donate them through community drop-offs or turn them into feed for local farms and zoos. In kitchens, cooks roast, purée or bake them into new dishes that keep the season’s signature ingredient from going to waste.

The impact of wasted pumpkins

Pumpkins leave behind more than just porch decorations. Each year, U.S. farms harvest about 1.4 billion

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