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📸 Credit: City of St. Charles
This should help you check one task off your list of post-Halloween chores.
Geneva and St. Charles are both hosting free pumpkin composting events on Saturday, Nov. 7, so residents can keep spent pumpkins out of the landfill and turn them into compost instead.
Here’s what to know:
Geneva smash event: The city’s Natural Resources Committee and the Geneva Park District will host the annual Pumpkin Smash from 9AM to noon at the Community Gardens at Prairie Green, near Peck and Bricher roads. Park district crews will then till the smashed pumpkins into the soil of the garden’s 131 rental plots.
Drive through in St. Charles: The St. Charles Natural Resources Commission is running a drive-through drop-off from 8AM to noon in the Public Works parking lot at 1405 S. 7th Ave. Residents can drop off pumpkins and gourds there to be composted.
Strip the decorations first: Both events ask you to remove candles, stickers, paint, yarn, googly eyes, and other plastic before you drop anything off. According to Kane County’s recycling program, latex, acrylic, and spray paints can leave tiny bits of plastic in finished compost, so unpainted pumpkins are the safest bet.
Why skip the trash: Pumpkins are about 90% water. Buried in a landfill without oxygen, they rot and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Composting returns their nutrients to the soil instead.
If Saturday doesn’t work, the Warrenville Park District is collecting pumpkins on Friday, Nov. 6, from 9AM to 2PM, and Kane County is adding more drop-off sites to its online list as it learns about them.
📖 Thanks for reading
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