This year alone Britain will purchase over 24 million pumpkins with over half of these destined for landfill. With Halloween just around the corner it is important to spread awareness on how to reduce pumpkin waste and tackle the estimated 18,000 tonnes of it that Britain produces each year.
One of the main leaders in the call to reduce pumpkin waste is food charity Hubbub with their campaign: ‘Eat your pumpkin’. Their campaign is aimed at helping people understand that the pumpkins we buy each year are perfectly edible and should be eaten, or at least composted, to help reduce Britain’s food waste.
According to Hubbub only a third of people in the U.K. know that the pumpkins they buy each year can be eaten.
I talked to a local resident, Ian Swanson, to ask him if him and his family eat their pumpkins:
“My and family and I have been eating our pumpkins for years actually. We usually buy smaller organic ones as these tend to be a bit more flavourful however we have bought large ones from the supermarket before and they’ve still tasted great and are good for making things like vegetable broths and soups.”
Almost all of a pumpkin is edible and there are tons of recipes online that incorporate pumpkins. For example, you could make curries or pies by carving out the pumpkin’s flesh or roast the seeds to make a healthy snack. And, as an added bonus, pumpkins are a great source of vitamin C and D so eating them has health benefits too.
So this year, instead of throwing out your pumpkin, why not try carving it up and incorporating it into your next soup or stew to help combat Britain’s food waste problem.
