Rubber duckies are actually made of plastic. Photo by JOSHUA COLEMAN on Unsplash.
Update 4/23/2023:This film was released in April 2020 and premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 22, 2020, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. This is an informative and well-presented film on plastics – I highly recommend it!
Have you ever heard of The Story of Stuff? It’s a 20-minute film (linked below) that is “a fast-paced, fact-filled explanation of the consumerist economy.” It began with the writer and the founder of The Story of Stuff Project, Annie Leonard. She’s an amazing person and a leader in environmental and social issues. It is 100% worth your time to watch!
The Story of Story Project has since come out with more than a dozen high-quality short documentary films that explain the relationship between consumer products and environmental problems. But their newest one is really exciting!!! It’s called…
The Story of Plastic
“These days, more and more of our Stuff is being made from one very problematic material: plastic.”
They want to tell the hidden stories surrounding plastic. The production, the pollution, and the health hazards. Here’s the trailer:
Do we need another film about plastic?
Yes, we do. There aren’t enough of them. The ones that do exist are really good and the message is getting out, but we need even more people to hear and see and understand the message: Plastic is ruining our environment, poisoning us (cancer, endocrine and thyroid diseases, etc.), and littering our landscapes. The Earth is so beautiful – don’t we want it to stay that way?
And recycling is not the answer. Only 9% of our plastic is actually getting recycled! That means 91% is ending up in landfills, the ocean, rivers and lakes, beaches, parks, and our neighborhoods. It even ends up in the food we eat and the water we drink.
Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash.
The Story of Stuff Project is fundraising to complete this project. Please help me support this worthy cause. They are asking people to become “a Plastic Insider by starting a recurring monthly donation supporting The Story of Plastic production fund today.” There are insider perks: your name will be in the credits of the film and you gain access to behind-the-scenes videos. Here’s a video of supporters who spend their lives on a sailboat:
I signed up as a monthly, recurring donor today. Can you help too? You can also make a one-time donation in any amount you’d like. And if you’re really ambitious, you can create your own Facebook fundraiser!
“The Story of Plastic isn’t just a movie. It’s a call to action.”
Are you as excited about this film as I am? Leave a comment below! Thank you for reading.
Recycling is easy, at least on the surface. But what happens to recycling after we put it in the blue bin? In my city, I can read the rules on recycling through the city’s curbside service, but I realized that I don’t know what happens to that recycling after it leaves my house. And the answers to simple questions are not clear.
The City of Chattanooga has had some problems with recycling in the past. Glass is not accepted through curbside recycling, but glass brought to the five recycling centers in Chattanooga is recycled.
For a time, glass wasn’t really recycled in Chattanooga
I used to take all of my recyclables to the recycling centers around town before signing up for Chattanooga curbside recycling in 2011. Recyclables had to go in clear or blue plastic bags and then be set on the curb where trash bins were placed. Certain materials such as glass, shredded paper, and numbered plastics #3-#7 were not accepted then. My family took our glass to the recycling center every couple of weeks. It wasn’t a big deal, nor was it a hassle. I was happy to do my part.
Glass recycling, photo by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay.
The city first issued the large 96-gallon blue bins in Fall 2014. Shortly after, the City notified residents that it would accept glass curbside. I was excited, and for 4 years, I rinsed and deposited my glass in the bin. During this time, I discovered that in general, plastic has a low recycling rate. But glass is infinitely more recyclable. I also learned that glass is safer than plastics when it comes to food and beverage consumption. So I began using far more glass than plastic and recycling it curbside.
But during those 4 years, our glass wasn’t really being recycled even though residents dutifully cleaned it, sorted it, and placed it in the blue curbside bins. It turns out that that glass was being landfilled.
No more curbside glass recycling
In January 2018, city residents received a postcard from the City of Chattanooga announcing that they would no longer accept glass in curbside recycling. The postcard requested residents to participate in a survey about glass recycling options in the future.1 Residents would still be able to take their glass to the recycling centers around the city. I thought this was weird, so I looked into it.
Glass was going to the landfill
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported this January 2018:
“The postcard says glass put into curbside recycling bins is likely to break, mixing with other recycling and making it difficult to sort. That means the entire contents of the bin would end up in the landfill. It’s an ongoing problem. The city added glass to its curbside recycling around the fall of 2014 after it introduced the 96-gallon blue bins. But in August 2015, the Times Free Press reported the glass — and the other recyclables with it in the bins — was being landfilled because it was too dangerous to sort.”2
The City should not have waited four years to stop accepting glass curbside if there was no way to properly handle it. Some, like myself, did not see this article in 2015, so I continued depositing my glass into the curbside bin. I emailed the city about my disappointment but I only received an auto-reply type of response.
Photo by Bart Heirdon on Flickr, Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Orange Grove & WestRock
According to a 2015 Chattanooga Times Free Press article, the glass was not recycled because the local separation center, Orange Grove, “isn’t equipped to remove broken glass from the curbside containers’ mix of paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, plastic bags and metal cans.” Their workers were separating the city’s recycling by hand and the broken glass was causing injuries.3 This means the city did not yet have adequate infrastructure to deal with a growing curbside recycling service.
At some point, WestRock (previously RockTenn) took over the contract with the City of Chattanooga to process recycling, but for a time, Orange Grove and WestRock worked together. WestRock, a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), does have machinery that sorts the glass out of the mix of recyclables, but they couldn’t sell it profitably, according to a manager at WestRock. So the crushed glass was used as landfill cover. “‘We’re having a tough time getting rid of it,’ he stated.” The city’s Public Works Director at the time wasn’t aware that glass put into the city’s blue curbside containers wasn’t being recycled, which seems odd.
In 2015, Orange Grove realized they needed to upgrade their sorting equipment for all materials since curbside recycling in Chattanooga had almost doubled by then. But they needed $1.6 million to do so. They tried to fundraise and a few foundations donated by the local county government declined to assist. The City of Chattanooga provided $250,000. But since this is a city service, shouldn’t the City of Chattanooga pay for that?
In the end, it must have been more efficient to transfer all recycling processing to WestRock than it was to upgrade the Orange Grove center. Further, Orange Grove changed their direction in 2016 to focus on more community-based services. But they still staff the City of Chattanooga’s five recycling centers and three refuse centers.
Today, all curbside recycling in Chattanooga is processed by WestRock.
Why would a city “recycle” something they can’t actually recycle?
If a city or municipality isn’t really recycling something they claim to recycle, it may be because a city like Chattanooga wants to market itself as a greener community than it actually is. Or the goal may be to attract new businesses, entrepreneurs, developers, and young educated people who like the outdoors and sustainable living. Additionally, perhaps Chattanooga wants to get as far away as possible from its past perception as the “dirtiest city in America.”
The Chattanooga Code of Ordinances states that they will collect recycling, but it does not promise to make sure it is recycled. “Eligible curbside recyclable materials include all clean aluminum cans, cardboard, paper products, plastics stamped one (1) through seven (7), tin cans, and food packaging.” As of 2021, an updated ordinance lists glass as a recycling contaminant, but I believe before that glass was listed.4 Note that only plastics #1 and #2 are recycled in Chattanooga and the rest are collected but landfilled instead of actually recycled.
Clear glass bin at one of the recycling centers in Chattanooga. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Questions About Glass Recycling
Through a series of inquiries about recycling, I found my way to a representative at WestRock and asked specific questions about if and how glass was being recycled. The representative was professional and somewhat responsive, but I did not receive answers to my questions. Since the City’s Recycling Department was not helpful either, I ended up contacting the Glass Recycling Coalition (GRC). Through them found my way to a company called Strategic Materials, a member of GRC. I was able to speak to the Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Laura Hennemann, and she confirmed that glass from Chattanooga’s recycling centers goes directly to their Atlanta facility and is recycled.
Strategic Materials and the Glass Recycling Coalition
Strategic Materials is the largest glass recycling company in North America, and they have nearly 50 facilities nationwide. Three of those are in Georgia. Both Strategic Materials and the Glass Recycling Coalition try to teach that glass is 100% recyclable. They help educate residents and consumers, materials recovery facilities (MRFs), local governments and municipalities, and solid waste haulers. The Glass Recycling Coalition’s 2018 survey concluded that 93% of consumers still expect to be able to recycle glass, so obviously, it’s important to people.5
Recycling is extremely complex. If you want to read specifically about how glass recycling works, you can read my articles on glass recycling.
Photo by PublicDomainPictures on Pixabay.
How recycling works in Chattanooga
The Public Works Department in the City of Chattanooga manages garbage and single-stream recycling (meaning all materials mixed together) curbside collection through the Solid Waste and Recycling Division. City employees operate the equipment and run the daily routes, and the City of Chattanooga owns and maintains the trucks. The trucks deliver the materials to our materials recovery facility (MRF), WestRock. The primary purpose of a MRF is to sort materials. WestRock takes the recycling materials, sorts them, and sells the materials to recyclers.
Box produced by WestRock. Photo by Marie Cullis.
WestRock is the primary MRF for much of the Southeast U.S. They are a paper recycling company first, so paper and cardboard recovery are their number one motivation when it comes to materials recovery.
The glass that residents take to the five recycling centers in Chattanooga does get recycled directly by Strategic Materials in Atlanta. While residents sort glass by color at the recycling centers in Chattanooga, Strategic Materials said that this isn’t necessary because they have an optical sorter in their Atlanta facility, which sorts the glass by color. Chattanooga has not updated its signage, so the separate bins at the centers remain.
Glass recycling bins at one of the Chattanooga recycling centers. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Glass causes problems without the right sorting equipment
WestRock, as do many MRFs, asserts that they do not have the ability to sort the glass broken before it reaches their facility, citing damage to their conveyor belts and machinery. The glass can also contaminate the rest of the recycling materials at the MRFs’ facilities. There are several types of contamination, but in this case, it refers to the broken glass pieces mixing in with the rest of the materials and they are difficult to separate out.
That’s why residents in Chattanooga are no longer able to place glass in the curbside bins. If you still are, please stop. It is a wasted effort because it’s going to the landfill and likely causing a bunch of other recyclables to go into the landfill as well. Keep in mind that curbside glass from between 2014 and 2018 was already landfilled. So rinse your glass, save it all in a box, and run it to the recycling center every couple of weeks.
One of several bins of glass I brought to recycle, as I collect from two households. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Are there solutions for the MRFs?
Yes. There is special machinery that can sort the glass pieces from single-stream recycling systems, but it is a major capital investment for the MRFs. So they often landfill the glass instead.
Another solution is to collect glass separately, curbside. Chattanooga surveyed almost 4,000 residents about glass. Most said they were willing to use a separate curbside bin for glass, but they were not willing to pay an extra fee for it. Over half of the respondents were also not willing to haul their glass to the recycling centers.6 That means a lot of glass is being thrown in the trash.
Many articles, including the one that revealed the Chattanooga glass survey results, indicate that the market for glass is extremely low. Laura Hennemann at Strategic Materials said that this just isn’t the case. There is a huge market for glass.
My son recycling glass with me at one of the local recycling centers, 2018. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Despite the issues, keep trying
Recycling alone is not the solution. Reducing and refusing waste is the key.
Glass is 100% recyclable. Glass is a better option than plastic, as far as waste is concerned. In a worst-case scenario, I’d rather have glass in landfills (and oceans) instead of plastic. Why? Because plastic leaches toxins into the water and poisons marine life. Plastic releases chemicals known to cause cancer or other health problems. Glass does not contain these chemicals. So I’m going to keep purchasing products in glass over plastic, every time. Especially since I don’t want chemicals from those plastics in my family’s food.
I’ll also keep taking my glass to the recycling center because I am able and willing to take the time. So I’m asking you to do the same – bring your glass to one of the five recycling centers. If you can’t do it, maybe a friend can drop yours off when they take theirs. For example, I take my in-law’s glass for them every few weeks. I’m happy to do it. What about starting a little co-op of glass recycling in your neighborhood, or at work? Everyone takes a turn, and the glass gets recycled.
Do you have questions or comments or ideas? Please share with me by leaving a comment below!
Thank you for reading. Please recycle, share, and subscribe!
Photo of a discarded plastic laundry detergent bottle on the ground, by nicholasrobb1989 on Pixabay.
Have you ever been out walking, hiking, biking, or even kayaking and noticed that there was trash here and there, everywhere? Noticed trash lining the streets as you drove to work or school? Or the debris that just seems to have washed up while walking on the beach or riverbank?
What do you do? Do you pick it up?
If so, there’s an app for that. It’s called Litterati.
Litterati app.
This app tracks litter that people all over the world pick up, and it compiles the data by location in order to pinpoint the source of the litter. With this app you take a photo of each piece of litter with your smartphone, then pick it up and discard it. You can get really artistic with your photos, too. Litterati features the most interesting and creative photos on Instagram.
The Data
Photos are automatically geotagged, meaning information about the exact location and time of pick-up is recorded. Additionally, users hashtag each image with information such as the brand, object name, and type of material.
Photo of a discarded Coca-Cola can on the ground, by Stanislav Kondratiev on Unsplash.
That data is loaded into an ArcGIS map to help track and create data to help diagnose the root cause of litter in any given area.7 As Litterati’s website explains:
“Litterati then compiles that cleanup data into a robust database of litter maps around the world. Using your tagged cleanup photos, the Litterati team can ask questions such as, ‘How does the weather affect the types of litter thrown?’ and ‘Are there more cigarette butts littered near bus stops?’.”8Â
Jeff Kirschner, the founder of Litterati, explained in a TED Talk why he created the app:
Join Us!
I joined this effort in March 2017, and I love it! I’ve used it in my neighborhood, while hiking, on my son’s school grounds, at the dog park, and at the beach. We pick up trash whenever we feel we can safely collect it and discard it. It is really satisfying to know we are making a difference and teaching my son by example.
Consistent Growth
You can join or create clubs and daily they list the top 5 people with the most activity. I made that list twice and it made my day!
In May 2018, the United Nations announced that they are partnering with Litterati to fight world pollution.9Â
While Litterati is using its data and mapping for great changes, Jeff Kirschner is still looking to inspire people. “How do we deliver a wonderful experience for each community member so that they’re inspired to pick up just one more piece, and then one more?”10And then spread the word, build community, and inspire others. Wouldn’t it be cool if picking up trash and keeping our Earth clean became the new normal?
Thank you for reading, and let’s be the change!
A few of my own Litterati photos:
Snickers bar wrapper that reads “Satisfies.” It sure didn’t satisfy here where I pulled it out of the water. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Single use disposable plastic straw found buried in the sand, Hilton Head Island, October 2018. Photo by Marie Cullis.
This is the remnants of an old chainsaw my husband found and discarded. Photo by Marie Cullis.
This is a clear plastic soda bottle I found embedded in the sand, on an island off the coast of North Carolina. The only residents there are wild horses. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Speedy cafe plastic drink cup on the shore of the Tennessee River. Someone just left it. I picked this item up this past weekend. Photo by Marie Cullis.
There are inspirational and motivated women all over the world. Women who amaze us, withstand the negativity and overcome the obstacles she faces.
I discovered One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia, by Miranda Paul, at my local library. Upon reading this book to my son, I was really impressed with this story. Check to see if your local library offers it!
After reading the book I wanted more information about Isatou Ceesay.
I felt that she is so inspirational that I should dedicate a whole post to her. She has been committed to upcycling plastic bags and reducing waste in The Gambia since the 1990s. The waste problem in The Gambia really bothered her. Plastic and trash were everywhere. The landscape was littered. People used plastic to make fires burn faster, but the toxins released in the fumes from burning plastic are unimaginable. She decided she would find a way to recycle or upcycle some of the plastic waste.
More than just recycling
But her story is not just about recycling and plastic. It’s also about empowering women and improving the standard of living! The book tells the story at a children’s level about how she had to work in secret in the beginning because it was illegal for women to work at the time, and people ridiculed her. But she began making recycled plastic bag purses. Isatou hired a few women to help and hired more as time went on, even establishing a women’s cooperative to craft and sell the items for income. The business kept growing and it helped the environment, the people, and the economy.
Isatou also helped co-found The Women’s Initiative Gambia whose mission is: “Women’s Initiative Gambia helps financially poor women in The Gambia to improve their skills and income so as to raise the standard of living of their families and their communities.”11 Today they have many projects beyond plastic bag recycling, including briquette making as a fuel source, gardening, tie-dye and batik, recycled paper bead making, food preservation, and many other projects.
Here’s a quick video highlighting Isatou Ceesay’s accomplishments:
“I think that when you abuse your environment, you abuse yourself.” -Isatou Ceesay12
DIY Opportunity
And if you have too many plastic bags yourself and want to make a plastic bag crocheted purse? She’s got a how-to video! I’ll update this post if I try it. And if any of you try this, please message me or leave a comment below! I can’t wait to see what you’ve done!
“People thought I was too young and that women couldn’t be leaders. I took these things as challenges; they gave me more power. I didn’t call out the problems – I called out solutions.” -Isatou Ceesay13
Well said. I think we should all have that attitude. Let’s be the change together!
Have you seen this documentary? Bag It is an excellent film, and I wholeheartedly recommend it! It’s a great introduction to not only the problem of plastic bags but of plastics in general. Please check out the trailer:
A must-see documentary
I cannot say enough good about this film. It really hits on all the topics, from the perspective of an everyday person like you or me. Before I saw this film myself a couple of years ago, I had only limited knowledge of plastics, recycling, and toxic products. This film was like my gateway to bigger individual topics – like plastic bag usage; the Great Pacific Garbage Patch; toxins in food from plastic packaging; and single-use disposable plastic…everything. I had thought about those things, but I hadn’t researched them or even read much about them. I love this film! And Jeb Berrier is pretty funny too.
The film also introduced me, through interviews in the film, to a variety of plastic experts, ocean and marine life experts, and organizations trying to make the world a better place. To name a few: Beth Terry of myplasticfreelife.com; Annie Leonard of the Story of Stuff Project; Dr. Sylvia Earle of Mission Blue; Algalita (founded by Captain Charles Moore); the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge; Oceana; the Environmental Working Group; authors Elizabeth Royte and Daniel Imhoff; and so many more that I’m forgetting to include. The filmmakers’ requests for interviews with the American Chemistry Council and others in the plastics industry were denied or received no response. Unfortunately, that has been fairly typical with films that investigate and educate the public on the plastic problem.
Plastic bags that have somehow made it into my home. I’m saving these for trash clean-ups when I go hiking. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Take action with Bag It The Movie
I was completely inspired by this movie! As I mentioned above, this film is one that led me to other important films, authors, individuals, and organizations that are all making a difference and trying to educate people. I consider Bag It to have been a core part of our household’s path to great changes.
I looked up the film’s website in anticipation of writing this article,12 and I was even more inspired! Most of their site is dedicated to using the film as a tool to educate schools, communities, and whole towns. They offer the ability for any person or organization to host a screening for a fee and have a free downloadable pdf Screening Tool Kit, which has step-by-step instructions and resources for screening Bag It. They also have a free downloadable pdf to initiate a Bag It Town campaign, meaning a plastic bag ban.
In my article about a weekend trip to Hilton Head Island, where I discovered that that town is implementing a plastic bag ban this month, I mentioned that I might try to propose one where I live! Between both, I’m SO moved and even more encouraged. If I do propose one in my town, I definitely know where to start now. With the tools provided by Bag It!
Thank you for reading! Stay inspired and be the change!
Plastic Bag laws in the U.S. from plasticbaglaws.org.
There is a coalition of aquariums across the United States striving to reduce the use of plastic straws. The coalition, called the Aquarium Conservation Partnership (ACP), is a collaboration of 22 public aquariums in 17 states, including the Tennessee Aquarium. They help advance conservation policies, educate and inspire audiences, and commit to sustainable business practices.1
Aquariums are awesome and full of wonder and thousands of children go through them daily. So they are poised to be leaders in positive change, and this is a great example of that! One of the things they’re doing is asking restaurants and others in the hospitality industry to reduce the use of straws by only giving them out upon request, instead of automatically. They’re asking individuals to sign a pledge to stop using plastic straws.
My son at the Tennessee Aquarium when he was just 2 and a half. Photo by Marie Cullis.
What’s wrong with plastic straws?
First, the sheer amount of them! Just like with all single-use disposable plastic products, it’s the over-consumption of them. Think 500 million plastic straws per day. That’s more than one straw per person per day in the United States. Our consumption has gone way overboard and has created a waste stream that is too large for us to keep up with! Second, they are not recyclable at all.
Don’t feel guilty about having used plastic straws. Just please refuse plastic straws – START TODAY. Politely refuse those plastic straws – if everyone refuses just one straw per day, we’ll more than cut our usage in half!
Image by Marjon Besteman-Horn from Pixabay.
I threw my disposables into the trash/recycling receptacle like I’m supposed to, how are they ending up in the rivers and ocean?
One of the critical issues with all the media about single-use disposable plastics is that the biggest question is often not answered: How does the plastic end up in the ocean in the first place?
Most people assume that once they’ve placed their disposables into a receptacle, those disposables go to the proper facility. What people don’t know is that many items don’t make it to the recycling facility or landfill. Since that’s out of our control, it seems impossible to do anything about it. But it’s not impossible by any means. The best way to guarantee that your single-use disposable plastics don’t end up in the ocean is…
To just not use them! Refuse them. Find an alternative. Then you do have control. We have the power to be the change.
So back to the question – how are plastics ending up in the rivers and ocean?
There are so many causes! Spillage from recycling that has been transported across the ocean for years to Asia; plastic products shipped across the ocean to the U.S. have spilled from ships; the fishing industry regularly dumps their trash into the ocean; trash and litter get blown or washed into storm drains and rivers that then feed into the ocean; illegal dumping; beach trash; river pollution; microbeads washing down drains; and debris from natural disasters and floods. Plastic bags are picked up by the wind and blown into waterways that flow into the ocean.
Starbucks is one company that is striving to end the use of plastic straws by 2020. Photo by Nadine Shaabana on Unsplash.
Ok, so what steps can I take?
First, let’s support the Aquarium Conservation Partnership. You can do this by signing the pledge (linked under Additional Resources below).
Second, refuse. Just say no thank you. To all single-use disposable plastics. Because recycling is not the answer. Only about 9% of our plastics get recycled. That means 91% is not recycled!
Third, if you must have something commonly produced as a single-use disposable plastic, like a straw, please buy a reusable one. Paper disposables and supposedly biodegradable straws are a better option, but it’s still going to be thrown away after one use. Try a stainless steel straw, glass straw, or bamboo straw.
Fourth, tell others! Tell your friends, your co-workers, your favorite restaurant, the local coffee shop, and your local school. So many to tell!
Fifth, participate in trash clean-up efforts. Join the Litterati. Maybe you’ll prevent some of the trash you pick up from entering the ocean.
Single-use disposable plastic straw found buried in the sand, Hilton Head Island, October 2018. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Last, but not least: Stop supporting businesses that resist change. Consumers hold power: if businesses refuse to meet demands like eliminating single-use plastics, choose not to patronize them. Your spending decisions can push businesses to adapt or risk losing profitability.
Poster advertising that The Trading Post, a popular restaurant in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, is recognized as an “Ocean Friendly Establishment” by the Plastic Ocean Project and Surfride Foundation. “We Only Serve Straws Upon Request.” I love it and will eat there to support businesses like this! Photo by Marie Cullis.
Final Thoughts
Collectively, have the power to create change just by modeling the best behavior. Refuse that straw. Be polite, of course. But just say no. You might influence someone else to refuse straws too. If everyone starts refusing straws, businesses won’t need to order as many. Then the plastic straw manufacturers will have to produce less. And then less will end up in landfills, in nature, and in the oceans. Carry a reusable stainless steel straw with you. Be the change! And as always, thanks for reading.
Is your Jack-O’-Lantern still around? Do you still have fall pumpkins around your home? Please read this before you dispose of them!
Don’t you just love fall and pumpkins? The colors, the smells, the flavors?
Fall includes fun holidays such as Halloween and Thanksgiving. Pumpkins, of course, are one of the main natural items we associate with Fall. We use pumpkins to decorate and make food. Some use squash or gourds for decorations. I think it’s awesome if you’re using nature’s creations instead of plastic decorations! But what do you do with those items after their prime?
Compost them. That is the simplest answer.
Decorating Pumpkins/Jack-O’-Lanterns
Carving pumpkins is a fun and creative tradition. But it’s best to keep it simple. Try to avoid using paint, plastic decorations, glitter, and glue on the pumpkins, as those things can have toxins and will not break down. They could also harm wildlife down the line. I have read that some use petroleum jelly to prevent spoilage, and I think I’ve even tried that in the past. But petroleum jelly is a by-product of crude oil waste and therefore not environmentally friendly.
Photo by Bekir Dönmez on Unsplash.
Please don’t put them in a landfill!
The U.S. Department of Energy has indicated that approximately 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins are thrown in landfills. Since nothing breaks down in a landfill, the pumpkins release methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, which contributes to global warming. The Department of Energy someday hopes to convert greenhouse gas emissions from landfills into energy, but until that infrastructure exists, avoid the landfills.14
If you compost already, just toss your pumpkin in! Feel free to chop it into smaller chunks first, but it will do fine whole. If you’re not composting, I have some other options for the pumpkins. If you want to know how I compost and learn how easy it is, please read my article.
My son placing a tea light inside his jack-o’-lantern. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Other options
If you cannot compost your carved pumpkins or squash decorations, one option is that you can feed these items to livestock. Does a family member or friend own a farm? If not, maybe try offering them to a farm nearby for their animals. The local food bank or urban garden may have a compost bin, to which you may donate your pumpkin. Again, make sure they are free of plastic, glue, paint, etc.
Our Jack O’ Lanterns from last Halloween. Photos by Marie Cullis.
Another option is to let your pumpkin rot, preferably in the woods somewhere, where animals, insects, and birds can ingest it. I’m not suggesting trespassing into National Forests or other protected areas to do this. But if you live near a small forest or wooded area and no one would notice or care if you left your pumpkin, it will break down naturally. It’s certainly better than putting it in a landfill!
Food Waste
Last, there are lots of people who are concerned about food waste with pumpkins, and that is a valid point. I advocate using natural items over plastic items for decoration in nearly every situation. Perhaps we should use pumpkins for decoration, not carve them, and then make a pumpkin recipe from them! This would reduce food waste nationwide.15
Pumpkin soup, image by congerdesign from Pixabay.
I’d love to know what you plan to do with your pumpkin, and what your ideas are! Thanks for reading, please share and subscribe!
