Winnipeggers once again recycled their jack-o-lanterns at Compost Winnipeg’s second annual Pumpkin Drop.
People gathered at the top of the Polo Park parkade to toss their gourds into dump trucks waiting below on Saturday.
Last year’s event kept 24,000 kilograms — or 10 per cent of all pumpkins grown in Manitoba — out of the landfill, where they produce harmful methane gas.
“Since 2018, we’ve invested over $11 million into Brady Landfill to vacuum out that methane,” said Karrie Blackburn, with Compost Winnipeg.
This year, instead of just composting them, intact pumpkins are set aside to be eaten to further reduce food waste.
Compost Winnipeg added more drop-off locations around the city, but only Polo Park has the two-story plunge.
The event comes just as the City’s two-year Residential Food Waste Collection Pilot Project came to a close. The final report is due in the spring.
Organic materials make up to 40 per cent of household waste, according to Blackburn.
“We’re anywhere from three to five years out from having city-wide compost collection for single-family dwellings — there’s plenty that can be done with multi-family dwellings,” she said.
“Whether that be condos, apartments, and even businesses, restaurants, hotels, you name it, all these places have organic waste, and we could be capturing it and preventing it from ending up in the landfill.”
Donations were also collected at the event and will be applied to the organic waste collection for a local nonprofit organization, Blackburn says.
— With files from Global’s Iris Dyck
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