KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KC Can Compost is encouraging people to compost their Halloween pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns intead of throwing them away.
Kristan Chamberlain, executive director of KC Can Compost, explained what happens when those pumpkins end up in a landfill. She said the pumpkins get smothered by other trash, depriving them of oxygen.
That process releases methane gas, which scientists say affects the Earth's temperature and climate system.
"It acts like a super hot blanket around the planet. And that blanket doesn't let any of the heat out," Chamberlain said. "So what we're trying to do at KC Can Compost is to keep all of the things out of the landfill that are adding to that hot blanket around the planet."
On Saturday, Nov. 5, the nonprofit is hosting "The Great Pumpkin Rescue."
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the group will collect pumpkins at three locations: Corinth Square, Lakeside Nature Center, and KC Can Compost's warehouse at 3119 Terrace Street.
The first two pumpkins cost $5 to drop off, and each additional pumpkin is $1 extra. That money helps cover the cost of living wages for their workers, plus transportation and other operational costs.
It also goes toward KC Can Compost's green job training program, which trains people with barriers to employment and helps them find environmental jobs.
According to KC Can Compost,1.3 billion pumpkins end up in landfills every year. Chamberlain said each pumpkin that is composted instead of thrown out can make a big difference.
"We just encourage people that think what I have or what I do doesn't matter, because all of these pumpkins add up to a lot of greenhouse gas," Chamberlain said. "So we just encourage you to realize that every member of our community participating in this contributes to the greater good."
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