END the horror and recycle your pumpkin this Halloween, West Devon Borough Council is asking.

As if Halloween wasn’t scary enough, did you know that UK households produce around 7-million tonnes of food waste every year, costing the average family about £60 per month?

In West Devon, almost a quarter of all waste put into black rubbish sacks is food waste — despite West Devon Borough Council providing kerbside collections for this waste — but with Halloween now over, you could make a huge difference with one simple change — when you’ve finished with your pumpkin, make sure you compost it or put it in your food caddy.

Any kind of food waste can be placed in your food caddy, whether cooked or uncooked. This is then treated to create electricity for the national grid and the by-product is used as soil conditioner for use on local farms.

Cllr Robert Sampson, lead member for commercial services, said: ‘It’s truly scary to see so many pumpkins being wasted at Halloween, when they could easily be composted. If you don’t have a compost bin or food caddy, please visit our website or offices for more information on how to obtain them.’

For more information visit www.westdevon.gov.uk