PRIMARY school children in Holsworthy and Stratton are leading the charge for food waste recycling and will be taking part in a ‘Pumpkin Recycling Project’ this Hallowe’en.

Pupils at Holsworthy and Stratton primary schools are being encouraged to return their waste pumpkins to specially designated recycling points at each school — a move which both raises awareness of the importance of food waste recycling and helps reduce the amount of food that the county sends to landfill. The project is being run by Holsworthy-based Andigestion.

Mike Lowe, operations director at Andigestion, said: “It’s been estimated that more than a million pumpkins will be brought in the UK in the run up to Hallowe’en, most of which will be carved into freaky faces and creepy characters.

“Of these, around 95% will be used to decorate gardens and doorsteps and while they look great on the night, they can then create a lot of waste which could potentially end up in landfill.

“Food waste recycling is of course important all year round but Hallowe’en is a great opportunity to help children understand what happens to their scraps and leftovers.”

Andigestion is also supporting schools with food waste recycling leaflets for every pupil, plus a pumpkin colouring competition for Key Stage 1 pupils and a themes ‘spot the difference’ competition for Key Stage 2, with book token prizes for individual winners.

Mike said: “Leftover pumpkins are of course a welcome addition to compost heaps or they can be left in household food waste caddies for collection by the council, but our pumpkin project is designed to encourage children and their families to easily dispose of them in a really eco-friendly way.

“Our special de-packaging machine means that even leftover pumpkins in plastic bags can be recycled making it a quick, easy, clean and eco-friendly end for all those petrifying pumpkins and spooky squashes!”

The waste pumpkins will be processed at Andigestion’s recycling plant in Holsworthy, which produces clean, green and eco-friendly electricity that is fed into the national grid for use in local homes and a nitrogen-rich, organic fertiliser for use by local farmers.