Carving jack-o’-lanterns may be a fun Halloween tradition, but after the holiday, according to Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky’s office, more than 1.3 billion pumpkins annually wind up in landfills throughout the country. And as they decompose, the rotting pumpkins release methane – one of the most harmful greenhouse gases.
To keep more pumpkins out of landfills, the councilmember hosted The Great Pumpkin Bash at Pan Pacific Park in the Fairfax District on Sunday, Nov. 5.
Yaroslavsky’s office estimated that 850 people showed up for the family-friendly event, where kids and adults of all ages took a bat to their unwanted orange gourds, smashing them to pieces for composting.
In recent years, many organizations and governments across the country have urged people to compost their pumpkins after Halloween because every 100 pounds of pumpkins that is disposed of in the trash will generate about 8.3 pounds of methane, a powerful green house gas.
The event included a strike zone presented by the L.A. Dodgers, face-painting, bounce houses, free bike repairs and electronic waste collection.
It also featured gardening and composting workshops aimed at fighting climate change, along with free giveaways of compost kitchen pails, and pollution-eating trees to plant on their properties.
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