“It’s another fun activity for the kids with the pumpkins after all the candy is gone and the sugar rush is over,” said Jill Parsonage, who came along with several smiling children. “And it’s a great way to prevent more waste from going to landfill.” Hosted by Compost Winnipeg, the second annual Pumpkin Drop also raised money for year-round composting programs across the city. Winnipeggers of all ages laughed and squealed with glee as they tossed withered lanterns into a truck parked about ten meters below CF Polo Park. (Darin Morash/CBC) Sylvia Girouard brought her youngest grandson, Matthew, who drove their slightly shrunken jack-o’-lantern off the edge of the two-story parking structure. He poured pumpkin puree and seeds with string into a one-ton truck parked below. “It was really fun,” said Matthew, 8, his eyes lighting up with a shy, happy smile. “It felt really satisfying when it went down.” “Yes, you broke my pumpkin!” Girouard laughed out loud. She was especially pleased that a large pile of pumpkins would help feed the animals at the Little Red Barn Sanctuary in Oakville, Man. “Pumpkins are very nutritious, I’m so glad they’re doing this,” Girouard said. Eight-year-old Christian Dela Cruz was one of the youngest volunteers at the event and helped sort the pumpkins into edible and non-edible piles. (Darin Morash/CBC) Eight-year-old volunteer Christian Dela Cruz helped sort the colorful autumn pumpkins into edible and non-edible. “Anything that isn’t damaged, we put it in this truck,” said the boy, who tossed tiny, decorative pumpkins into a pickup parked on the roof. “It’s nice to give the farm animals different food to eat,” he added.

Drawing attention to the ‘food waste hierarchy’

Fresh pumpkins that were never painted or pierced were donated to organizations including Community Helpers Unite Inc. and the Leftovers Foundation, to be pureed and cooked into meals. Those already carved into jack-o’-lanterns were checked for wax and other debris, then tossed into the bin, about 10 meters below. “There are so many things we do with this event,” said Karrie Blackburn of Compost Winnipeg, a social enterprise run by the Green Action Centre. Karrie Blackburn with Compost Winnipeg says diverting pumpkin from landfills can help produce food and reduce methane emissions. (Darin Morash/CBC) “First, keeping pumpkins out of landfills. Second, we’re drawing attention to the food waste hierarchy,” he said, adding that the group doesn’t want organics sent directly to the compost pile. “There are opportunities to feed people by recycling these pumpkins into food,” Blackburn said. The group is also taking cash donations to fund a composting service for a local nonprofit, yet to be determined. Money raised in Last year’s Pumpkin Drop helped start a composting program at the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre. “They started composting with us in July,” Blackburn said, “and have already diverted over 3,000 pounds of waste and that’s up to four bins on a weekly collection schedule.”
He said the 2021 event collected about 24,000 kilograms of pumpkins, which Compost Winnipeg estimates is about 10 percent of all the Halloween pumpkins they bought in Manitoba last year. A truck bed below the park quickly filled with splattered pumpkins as tens of thousands of pounds of the large, orange pumpkins were expected to be diverted from the landfill. (Darin Morash/CBC) Blackburn said this is a significant achievement, as pumpkins that end up in landfills don’t decompose properly, with results that may come back to haunt us. “Without oxygen present, you don’t have all those good microbes,” he said. “That means the pumpkin will become septic. It produces a very powerful greenhouse gas, methane, which as we all know is a major contributor to climate change.” Composting bulb vegetables offers additional benefits, Blackburn said. “This compost can be made into a soil amendment, or it can actually be used in landfill remediation,” he explained, saying that city landfills deal with waste by alternating layers of trash and dirt, almost like a giant lasagna. Blackrun said compost is a better alternative to what is often used in this process now. “Not only does it prevent us from using topsoil, which is a non-renewable resource, but it also sequesters emissions coming out of our landfills.”

The city composting pilot program was completed in September

Compost Winnipeg recently picked up funding from the city to contribute to the expansion of its residential and commercial collection services. The City of Winnipeg completed its pilot program for household food waste collection in September, with a report to be delivered to city council next year. Blackburn hopes councilors will act quickly towards a city-wide compost collection scheme. “We’re about a decade behind most major cities in organic waste diversion,” he said, adding that pickup service for single-family homes is at least several years away. In the meantime, Winnipeggers can sign up for the Compost Winnipeg collection program for about $35 a month. Blackburn said about 40 percent of household waste is organic matter that could be composted, nearly doubling the life of landfills while reducing methane emissions. “It’s a very small step you can take in your daily life to have a direct impact on maintaining the longevity of our planet,” he said.