SAINSBURY’S HAS launched a special recycling scheme to help get customers composting this Halloween.
The supermarket giant expects to sell just over one million pumpkins this week, but once carved, pumpkins are often thrown away – even though they can be easily recycled.
To help solve the problem, the new scheme encourages people to locally recycle unwanted pumpkins through WRAP’s Recycle Now campaign. Customers will be able to bring back their pumpkins to one of the 10 stores trialling the initiative so that it can be turned into energy via anaerobic digestion by Sainsbury’s waste partner Biffa.
The supermarket believes the new scheme will not only help customers compost their pumpkins, but also encourage more customers across the country to start composting at home.
Sainsbury’s head of sustainability, Paul Crewe, said: “We know that lots of people will be buying a pumpkin this Halloween – but what happens after we’ve carved it?
“There’s nothing more gruesome than a pumpkin past its best – so we want to make sure that once the spooky festivities are over we’re helping customers to get rid of their pumpkins in the right way.”
The scheme is the latest in a series of recycling ideas generated by Sainsbury’s colleagues – including Easter egg recycling and Christmas card recycling.