Pumpkin Composting

DID YOU KNOW?

1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins end up in US landfills every year! 

Instead of tossing it in the trash, join the Charleston regional effort to compost your pumpkins, for FREE!

Downloads Available:

Pumpkin Composting Square Ads 2024 revised

Please ensure pumpkins are clean before composting or feeding to animals!

What is a “clean pumpkin”? 

  • If you’ve painted, glued, or glittered your pumpkin, just take a veggie peeler and scrape that stuff off. It’s not compostable.
  • If you burned a drippy candle, go ahead and scrape out that wax. It’s not compostable either.


Responsible Pumpkin Disposal Options: Fall 2024

Pumpkins are food!  If your pumpkin is still edible, make the most of it!  Roast the seeds, bake a pie, enjoy pumpkin stuffed ravioli, or get creative with over 66 Pumpkin Recipes!  

For those no longer edible, composting or donating them to local farms is the way to go.

  1. Compost Pumpkins
  2. Donate Pumpkins to Farms

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  • ATTEND A PUMPKIN SMASH EVENT
    • Experience the thrill of smashing your rotten jack-o-lanterns or whole pumpkins before they are composted!

    • A big thank you to Smart Recycling for generously providing the hauling services for both events!

  • DROP OFF at New Realm Brewing: November 1 - November 10 
    • There will be a special CLEAN pumpkin collection bin.  
    • Location: 880 Island Park Drive, Charleston, SC 29492 (Daniel Island)
      Hours: Sun - Thurs: 11:30AM – 9PM, Fri - Sat: 11:30AM – 10PM
  • DROP OFF at Bees Ferry Compost Facility: November 1 - December 14 
    • There will be a special CLEAN pumpkin collection bin near the food scrap carts all month long.  
    • Location: 1344 Bees Ferry Road, Charleston (West Ashley)
      Hours: Monday - Friday 8am - 4pm & Saturday 8am - 3pm (Closed Sundays)
  • DROP OFF ANYTIME, ALL YEAR, at any of the 20 food scrap drop off sites around the Charleston region.
    • Simply sign up for Charleston Composts, a free residential food scrap drop off program.
    • The food scrap carts do accept CLEAN pumpkins.  
    • Please ensure all pumpkins fit INSIDE the carts, and do not leave them next to carts, littering our parks.
    • Pro tip:  Consider a new years resolution to start composting your kitchen food scraps too!  You're already signed up and trained!
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In 2023, over 2.5 tons of pumpkins were composted instead of being sent to landfills. 

  1. The Bees Ferry Pumpkin Collection Bin contributed 1.5 tons, with approximately 600 pumpkins composted. 
  2. The Pumpkin Smash Event responsibly composted 1 ton of pumpkins. 
  3. Pumpkins in food scrap carts were included in the overall food scraps volume for the month and couldn't be counted separately.

Check out our Compost Program Data Dashboard for more specific pumpkin and food scrap data!