Santa Maria hosted its fourth annual Pumpkin Smashing event today at Rotary Centennial Park. Community members brought pumpkins and gourds to toss into collection bins for composting and joined in on activities like pumpkin bowling.
The event gave locals a fun way to keep pumpkins out of the landfill by transforming them into nutrient-rich compost. Engel & Gray’s General Operations Manager, Dustin Bumgardner, explained, “We bring everybody out here, and we smash pumpkins. Ultimately, they're going to get put on a roll-off bin over there, which is going to go to our compost. It's going to get composted, turned into great soil amendment and then sold out to like a farm or Caltrans or a landscaper, where it's going to be beneficial, not end up in a landfill.”
Composting pumpkins after Halloween helps reduce waste and lowers greenhouse gas emissions.
