Tips for Trash: How to Dispose of Your Halloween Pumpkin

It’s Halloween and Alexandrians are displaying pumpkins large and small. It’s a sweet tradition that seems especially suited to the Port City’s ghostly traditions.

It doesn’t take long, however, for Jack O’Lanterns to morph into moldy blobs or for squirrels to take their chunk of flesh out of the uncarved. Soon, thousands of these will be headed for the trashcan and Alexandria’s incinerator.

Residents have several options for environmentally sound disposal instead of lobbing them in the trash.

According to Ken Johnson, Assistant Superintendent of Refuse Collection for the City of Alexandria, residents can include pumpkins in yard waste removal.

Residents are also invited to hand over their gourds to the Resource Recovery Station composting tables at any one of these Alexandria Farmers Markets: Old Town, Four Mile Run, West End, and Del Ray. Make sure candles, wax, foil, etc., are removed, and check this site for dates and times: https://www.alexandriava.gov/FarmersMarket.

In the odd event that your household’s haul of candy doesn’t get gobbled up, you can also deposit unwrapped candies at these Farmers Market stations as well. Visit Compost Alex on Facebook to learn more about this year-round composting service.