Look out for flying pumpkins.
Eastside Compost will be launching pumpkins Sunday, Nov. 1, at Hunter Park from 10 a.m. to noon. They will use a catapult made by the Lansing Makers Network.
Last year, Eastside Compost co-owner Mike Dombrowski said many families came out.
“Someone actually brought some apples that we also started chucking, and those went much further,” Dombrowski said. “So that was fun to see the kids able to chuck an apple a few hundred feet across the park.” Dombrowski thought it was a fun event.
Dombrowski said after the launch Eastside Compost will bring the pumpkins to their compost pile. Dumping old pumpkins in the trash is bad for the environment. The pumpkins get trapped in landfills and release methane gas.
“Michigan already has a ban on yard waste in the landfills,” Dombrowski said. "That's why certain cities will pick up yard waste, such as grass and leaves. People forget about the other food.
“I think a lot of people grow up or just are in sort of the habit of throwing away food waste,” Dombrowski said. People forget that pumpkins are squashes and can be composted.
“So we actually do the composting with bacteria first, and then we add worms to the piles to finish it off,” Dombrowski said. Most other commercial-scale composters use bacteria in the food to compost. Eastside Compost uses vermicomposting.
Other ways to dispose of pumpkins are leaving it out for the squirrels to eat or letting pumpkins rot on a porch.