GLOUCESTERSHIRE residents are being encouraged to recycle their post-Halloween pumpkins this year in a bid to help reduce the amount of food that is sent to landfill.

Dedicated ‘Pumpkin Recycling Points’ will be in place at 10 different garden centres and farm shops across the county, including Dobbies Garden Centre in Cirencester and Fosseway Garden Centre, Moreton-in-Marsh, until the middle of November to encourage customers to return such waste for recycling by Gloucestershire County Council’s food waste recycler Andigestion.

The pumpkins will be processed at the company’s recycling plant in Bishop’s Cleeve to produce a biogas that is fed into the national grid for use in local homes and a nitrogen-rich, organic fertiliser for use by local farmers.

“It’s been estimated that more than a million pumpkins will be bought in the UK in the run up to Halloween,” said Jason Ward, commercial manager at Andigestion. 

“Leftover pumpkins are of course a welcome addition to compost heaps or they can be left in household food waste caddies for collection by the council, but our recycling scheme is designed to help residents dispose of them easily in a really eco-friendly way.”