Homeowners urged to put out their pumpkins (From Your Local Guardian)

Croydon Council urges homeowners to put out their pumpkins

7:30am Friday 28th October 2011 in Croydon

Croydon's new food waste collection will allow thousands of Halloween pumpkins to be recycled in the borough this year.

As October's annual pumpkin sales rise, Croydon's share of the nation's crop could be as many as 10,000 of the giant orange fruits.

A typical pumpkin weighs between two and three kilograms, which potentially represents 25 tonnes of squash.

Once October 31 has passed, the council expects thousands of pumpkin remains to be hitting the borough's bins.

Councillor Phil Thomas, cabinet member for environment and highways, said: "More and more people are celebrating and enjoying Halloween.

"It's great to see people having fun-but it's also a good time to make use of the new food waste bins we delivered to every home earlier this month.

"We are already picking up about 40 tonnes of compostable waste from them each day.

"If everyone with a pumpkin lantern puts theirs out during the first week in November, we could see that go up by several tonnes a day."

Send your Halloween pumpkin pictures to newsdesk@croydonguardian.co.uk