Chatham County starts pumpkin recycling project

Teresa Chapman woke up one morning with Halloween on her mind — specifically pumpkins, and how they could benefit the environment during that time of year.

“I thought, here’s an opportunity where we’ll get a lot of the same material at once,” Chapman said.

Two weeks ago, Chapman, the Chatham County waste reduction coordinator, designed a program that would recycle pumpkins in Chatham County.

The Pittsboro, Siler City and Cole Park collection centers will have specially marked containers for pumpkin recycling Tuesday and Wednesday.

Residents are encouraged to recycle their raw pumpkins by dropping them in the bins found at the three collection centers. Residents must remove any decorations or candles before depositing them.

From there, the pumpkins will be taken to one of two compost stations in Chatham County.

“Since they’re so heavy, we were looking for a way we could use them,” Chapman said. “If people didn’t already have a plan to compost them or use them for food, and they were just going to throw it out, then it’s half the cost in weight for us to take it to a local compost station than to take it to the landfill.”

Chapman said it costs about $50 per ton to dispose of trash, compared to the $23 it costs to take it to a local compost station.

“We’re lucky that we have composters right in our county,” she said.

Jonathan Franzen, an employee at the Pittsboro collection center, said the program is brand-new to Chatham County.

Pittsboro, Siler City and Cole Park were selected to host the collections due to their locations near heavily populated areas, Chapman said.

“We’re going to try it out and see how many people are interested,” Chapman said. “If we can get significant tonnage, then it’s a win, win, win, win.”

Though Orange County doesn’t have anything specific for pumpkin recycling, Orange County Solid Waste Planner Blair Pollock said he thinks it is an interesting idea.

“That’s a nice project. I hadn’t even thought about that,” Pollock said. “My first thought would be to encourage people to put it in their composts or to put it in the woods in their backyard where it would degrade, and the animals could have at it.”

He said Orange County will definitely consider doing something similar in the coming years.

“We applaud our neighbors in Chatham County for this innovative pumpkin recycling project,” Pollock said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.