Richfield smashes pumpkins in smash hit event
RICHFIELD, Minn. — Who needs a pumpkin after Halloween, anyways?
Before Richfield residents can throw their jack-o-lantern in the garbage, the city is providing a destructive, yet constructive alternative.
For the first time ever, Richfield hosted a 'Pumpkin smash' event Saturday at Veterans Park. The mission? Smash, then compost the Halloween waste.
The city's solid waste specialist says it's all for a good cause.
We're producing anywhere between 1-2 billion pumpkins anywhere in the United States," said Zach McCarty. "[In a landfill] instead of breaking down in a way that's beneficial, they'll end up breaking down and producing methane gas, which is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas."
When parents and kids alike smashed their gourds, they went instead into a bin for compost.
"Within about 30-60 days, we'll have a really rich soil amendment that has benefits for any kind of project it can be used for around the state," McCarty said. "It's such a unique process that not only benefits our environment by diverting things from landfills, but it's going to support engineering projects around the county, it's going to start supporting gardens, farms, it has a lot of potential."