I’m trying to live a more sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyle. Here’s some hacks and tips I’ve pick up along the way to reduce your footprint!

Have you heard? Halloween and fall pumpkins (decor or jack o lanterns) are becoming one of the biggest causes of food waste in the United States. What starts as innocent fall fun turns into millions of pounds of food waste that could otherwise be consumed by those who need. Pumpkins are thrown in the trash can after a fun use, and this can be pretty upsetting on the environment, and in regards of the hungry.

Fortunately, there’s some eco-friendly ways to repurpose your pumpkins so they make more of a difference in the world, letting you have fun without the environmental expense.

• Feed an Animal-Laugh all you want, but if your pumpkins are a bit worse for wear, feed them to an animal! I have a flourishing group of squirrels in my yard…so I feed them…and trust me, they LOVE pumpkins! If you don’t have such a fun group of backyard rodents, you can see if your local farms would feed them to their animals. Pigs love pumpkins, and it really is cute to watch!
• Feed Yourself– These larger carving pumpkins may not taste as good as a pie pumpkin, but they still can be transformed into food. Besides roasting the seeds you pull out, you can also turn the pulp into a pasta sauce! Just puree it like you would normally, but add some more seasonings to balance out the blandness!
• Compost– If you can’t do either of these things, compost that pumpkin! it’s not the best option, but still recycles valuable nutrients back into the earth so you can grow more usable food next year.

Also, did you know there are innovative ways to repurpose pumpkins into sustainable energy? If 50% of the United States food waste was recycled, we could power 2.5 million homes a year. Now thats a way to put it into perspective!

So, what do you plan on doing with your pumpkins as the holiday season approaches? Let me know in the comments below!

All thoughts and opinions are my own.