Can we stop painting pumpkins?

It’s the time of year for spookiness and candy! The common Halloween tradition has taken on a new twist in recent years; maybe it existed long ago and I had never noticed. At any rate, I’ve been seeing more and more pumpkins that are being painted as opposed to carved. This is great for young kids that shouldn’t be playing with sharp tools commonly used in the carving of pumpkins. Additionally, it adds the artistic flare of color that is not achievable by simply carving pumpkins.

I don’t want this to sound like I am opposed to artistic endeavors or childhood creativity/safety, because I am not. I support these values tremendously. BUT, I would like to modify our actions to be more thoughtful and responsible. My disdain for painted pumpkins comes in the type of paint we use. Typically, pumpkins are painted with acrylic paints for good reasons: they’re inexpensive, fairly easy to clean up, and dry quickly. Acrylic paints are plastic based, then the problem becomes the next “life” of the pumpkin. We can’t compost the pumpkin unless you go through the work of removing the paint. The pumpkin not useful as a food product, again, unless you remove the paint. Sadly, most of these pumpkins are discarded into landfills, turning a piece of wonderful organic material into pathetic garbage that isn’t useful other than to create methane in the anaerobic life of the landfill.

If you insist on painting pumpkins, please look into biodegradable paint options. Reduce your waste by removing the painted areas of the pumpkin and use it in your compost. Please do anything other than throwing valuable resources into a landfill.