Get more out of your pumpkin

Don't miss a trick...and treat. Over millions of pumpkins will end up in the bin this Halloween, carved and uneaten. That's a scary amount of edible food wasted.

Here our our top tips for making the most of your pumpkin. 

1. Feed your family - before you start carving out some fun check out recipes for your pumpkin. There are lots of savoury and sweet treats to be made from soup, roasted seeds, curries or for the more adventurous a coconut pumpkin cake. There is a list of recipes on Hubbub's website for you to explore. 

2. Feed the wildlife in your garden - feed animals like birds in your garden by hanging your pumpkin from a tree or on a bird feeder above ground level. If you can't do that, see if you can donate it to a local wildlife centre. 

A reminder, in recent years the Woodland Trust has put out pleas for the public to not leave left over pumpkins in local woodlands. Pumpkins take a long time to break down as they rot, they damage delicate woodland ecosystems, attract rats and can be fatal to animals like hedgehogs. 

3. Feed your food caddy - once your pumpkin is beyond reuse, break down your pumpkin and place it either inside your food caddy or if it doesn't fit, place it on top - in a compostable bag or loose is fine and our waste crews will collect it. 

Please do not place them in your brown garden waste bin. Food waste is recycled by a different processing method and facility from garden waste. 

If you're unsure which bin an item should go in use our handy A-Z waste guide on our website.