Lubbock Nonprofit Helping the Community to Repurpose old Pumpkins

It's November and by now that Halloween pumpkin you might still have outside your front door is looking even spookier as it dries out. One group is making sure that those pumpkins are not going to waste and given a new life, in the afterlife.

The nonprofit organization, Growing Together Texas, is holding their annual pumpkin drive to help get rid of those rotting Halloween pumpkins. Growing Together Texas has been putting up signs in different community gardens around Lubbock and is asking residents to drop off their old pumpkins for a composting project. The composted pumpkins get broken down and go back into the Earth to bring nutrients to plants next year.

There are currently six drop off locations within the city where anyone can drop off their pumpkins. All drop off locations are community gardens where the pumpkins will go directly into composting bins located outside. Not only are pumpkins being accepted but the gardens are also accepting carbon-rich materials such as leaves, which are obviously falling off plenty of trees. As someone who lives in the country with goats and chickens to give my own left over pumpkins to it is a refreshing change to see that so many residents within the city limits now have an option rather than a dumpster for their pumpkins.

Unfortunately, if you opted to paint your pumpkin instead of carving it this year then those pumpkins will not be able to be composted, unless the paint washes off. Pumpkins can be dropped off at various locations throughout the month of November. Those locations can be found on the Growing Together Texas Facebook page.