People in Oxfordshire urged to EAT - not BIN their pumpkins
18k tonnes end up as food waste each year.
This Halloween people across Oxfordshire are being asked to think twice about what to do with their pumpkins.
The Oxfordshire Pumpkin Festival tells us around 18,000 tonnes of them end up in the bin each year. That's the same weight as 1,500 double decker busses.
Instead we're all being encouraged to 'Carve it, Cook it, Eat it' instead of binning it.
Jess Kopp from Good Food Oxfordshire told us about the best pumpkins to hunt for:
"We want to get the message across that there are lots of different varieties of edible pumpkins and the smaller in size the pumpkin is, the sweeter and more delicious it is.
"If you're choosing a pumpkin, go for an edible one and a smaller one and they can taste really, really good."
Oxfordshire Pumpkin Festival's website says:
"What’s scarier than witches, ghosts and ghouls at Halloween? How about the 18,000 tonnes of edible pumpkin that end up in the bin each year.
"October is the time of year when we celebrate the humble pumpkin and “squash food waste” by encouraging people to eat rather than discard their Halloween pumpkin’s flesh. The message is simple:
"Carve it, Cook it, Eat it – Don’t bin it!"
The tenth annual Oxfordshire Pumpkin Festival is ongoing until Sunday 12th November 2023.