Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS), with funding from the Student Sustainability Committee, is working with Champaign County Environmental Stewards to hold a Pumpkin Smash event. A Pumpkin Smash is an event after Halloween where people bring their pumpkins and “smash” them to be put in a bin and composted. Pumpkins are 90% water, and when they decompose in landfills, they release methane, which is a significant contributor to climate change as a greenhouse gas. If pumpkins are composted correctly, the water gets returned to the soil, and the methane doesn’t get released into the atmosphere. We aim to collect pumpkins from the Urbana-Champaign area and compost them to counteract this issue. So come on out and smash your old pumpkins after the Halloween holiday!
