Up to 18,000 tons to be thrown out by the end of the big day
Hundreds of thousands of pumpkins, single use fancy dress clothes and plastic tat will be thrown into Britain’s bins by the end of the Hallowe’en festivities.
Households in the UK, not sure what to do with their pumpkins and Halloween waste after the trick-or-treaters are gone, are most likely to put them out with the rubbish, direct into the landfill bin, says a leading British waste management company.
According to BusinessWaste.co.uk, millions are sold every year in the run-up to 31st October, and nearly all of them won’t be eaten.
“We are up for people enjoying themselves but there’s a lot of waste going on here that could be reduced,” says BusinessWaste.co.uk’s Mark Hall.
“While hard figures for Hallowe’en fancy dress sales are hard to come by its estimated that there are at least 1 million items of clothing that are sold and then sent to the tip , last year Tesco said they sold two-million by the end of October, a third of the UK market.
“With the vast majority sold in the week before Hallowe’en, it’s clear that most are destined for the same fate: Their insides scooped out, a face carved on the side and a candle stuck in the middle.
“Unfortunately, most people don’t have a clue what to do with the pumpkin flesh,” said Hall, “and bins up and down the country are bursting with the stuff because many people still don’t compost.
It’s food waste on a grand scale.”
Even at the most conservative estimates, assuming four million pumpkins are sold each year to be hollowed out as Jack-o’-lanterns, BusinessWaste.co.uk say up to 18,000 tons of the fruit will be wasted this week alone.
Those numbers are too shocking to ignore.
“Every year, people are being told to try out pumpkin recipes,” says Hall, “but the bottom line is that people are either too lazy, or just don’t like the idea.
“Pumpkins are a culinary unknown to most people, and the bin is by far the easiest option. It’s a shame because farmers are growing whole fields of these things just to be wasted.”
With Guy Fawkes Night around the corner, Business Waste warns that it’s another festival that encourages wholesale waste.
“Far be it for us to be party poopers, but we’re asking people to take special care what they throw on their bonfires,” said Mark Hall. “Ask yourself if you’re about to burn something toxic, or if it can be better off recycled.”
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