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Sustainable Pumpkin Decorating

With fall underway, pumpkins are showing up on nearly every doorstep. Here’s how to celebrate the season while making the most of your pumpkin: 

Selecting your Pumpkin 

  • Buy local if possible. Purchasing from a farmers market supports North Carolina farmers and reduces carbon emissions from transportation. 
  • Nobody’s perfect! Consider pumpkins with irregular shapes or blemishes. These pumpkins make for distinctive designs, and choosing them may help keep usable produce out the landfill. 

Decorating your Pumpkin 

  • Pumpkin etching is a less messy alternative to carving and helps your pumpkin stay fresh longer. 
  • If carving your pumpkin, consider cutting out the bottom instead of the top. Keeping the stem intact can help extend freshness. To keep a carved pumpkin fresh even longer, spray the inside with a solution of water and a bit of lemon juice or peppermint castile soap, which has antifungal properties. 
  • If you plan to compost your pumpkin, skip non-compostable paints, googly eyes and other decorations. 

Composting your Pumpkin 

  • Before discarding your pumpkin, consider baking a pumpkin pie or roasting the seeds for a delicious zero-waste snack. 
  • Remove any non-compostable decorations including paint, glue, candles, googly eyes, etc. before composting. 
  • You can bring your pumpkin to the Edible Campus or Carolina Community Garden compost bins. Make sure to place them in the correct bin labeled “pumpkins,” or compost them in your residence hall’s waste disposal area. 

Pumpkin Etching Tutorial 

For pumpkin etching, you’ll need a pumpkin, a carving or craft knife, and scraping or etching tools, such as spoons, linoleum cutters, or clay tools. A stencil or washable marker to outline your design is optional. 

Steps: 

  1. Prep the pumpkin: If adding a candle or LED light, cut a small hole in the bottom, not the top, and clean out the inside. Keeping the stem intact helps the pumpkin stay fresh longer. 
  1. Prepare a design: Sketch directly on the pumpkin with a washable marker or tape a stencil to the surface and poke small holes to trace the pattern. 
  1. Etch the design: Use your tools to gently scrape away just the outer orange layer of skin, without cutting through. This reveals the lighter pulp below and creates a glowing contrast when lit. Experiment with different depths or tool sizes to create shading and detail. 

This season, let your pumpkin shine with a little creativity and a lot less waste!