Pumpkins Post-Halloween!

Boom Buddy mum, Weronika, has come up with a range of ways for you to handle all those leftover pumpkins!

This Halloween, many of us will have filled our homes with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes (even if the original jack-o-lantern was a turnip!). And now we will all have the same problem: what to do with all those pumpkins?

WasteManaged brings some spooky statistics - each year 18,000 tonnes of pumpkins go to landfill and the scraps from carving only would make 360 million portions of a pie!

So what's the best way to dispose of the unwanted gourds and squashes?

Firstly, never dump your pumpkins in the woods. It may seem like a good idea to give them back to nature but it is actually dangerous. Pumpkins are toxic to hedgehogs and have detrimental effect on fungi and woodland soil.

Simple as it sounds, the best way to dispose of your pumpkin is... to actually use it. It is a truly versatile vegetable and, once reduced to the puree form, it can survive ages in your freezer and be ready whenever you'd like a tasty soup, cake, pie or even a homemade pumpkin spice latte.

Another thing is easy baked pet treats! Did you know pumpkin is very healthy for dogs? It is full of fibre and supports the digestion. You can also make cat cookies out of the pumpkin's flesh for your feline friend (as long as there's no seeds, skin or stem).

Some enthusiasts of homemade beauty products even turn pumpkins into face masks and this is fair enough since it has one of the highest contents of vitamin A.

And if you still have some of the pumpkin left, do a little research - most of your local animal shelters and farms will happily take the leftovers.

Happy Halloween!