WASHINGTON 鈥� Prince George鈥檚 County officials . For the third year in a row, the county will collect pumpkins after the trick-or-treating is over, and then turn those pumpkins into Leafgro Gold by composting them.
Pumpkin pickup will take place on two Mondays following Halloween: Nov. 6 and again on Nov. 13. Denice Curry, senior environmental planner with the Department of the Environment鈥檚 Recycling Office, said you don鈥檛 have to bag your pumpkins for pickup.
鈥淛ust place the pumpkin on the curb and we鈥檒l take them and compost them.鈥� Curry said be sure to remove any candles or other decorations. 鈥淎nything that鈥檚 not organic should be removed.鈥�
Along with pumpkins, other seasonal decorations will be picked up 鈥� as long as they鈥檙e organic. That would include dried corn, hay or straw. Residents should be remove any wire or fasteners attached to those decorations, Curry said.
The county has been piloting a project to take food waste and turn it into Leafgro Gold. Curry said the technology being used by the county鈥檚 program breaks down the organic materials faster than normal.
鈥淲e can take what is generally a 32-week process and reduce it to a 10-week process,鈥� Curry said. The Leafgro Gold isn鈥檛 yet widely available 鈥� its production is part of the county鈥檚 ongoing pilot project.
Curry said they鈥檝e gotten good feedback on the program that allows residents to keep pumpkins out of the trash. 鈥淭his will be our third year 鈥� so we鈥檙e looking forward to additional feedback and maybe larger volumes this time around.鈥�
Residents don鈥檛 have to wait for curbside pickup. They can also take their pumpkins to two facilities: the Brown Station Road Recycling Center in Upper Marlboro and the Missouri Avenue Solid Waste and Recycling Center in Brandywine.
