How New Bedford Residents Can Get Rid of Pumpkins and Cornstalks

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — With Halloween just days away and the end of the spooky season upon us, you’re probably ready to chuck that Jack-O-Lantern that is rotting away on your front stoop.

Cornstalks are another great Halloween decoration to put around your yard, but what do you do when all the trick or treaters have gone home and now those stalks are just shedding away in the wind?

Marissa Perez-Dormitzer, Waste Reduction Manager for the Greater New Bedford Regional Refuse Management District, has offered up some helpful tips about what to do with pumpkins and cornstalks that are no longer of any use.

The key is to not put them in with your household garbage, where they will unnecessarily end up in the local landfill.

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Weekly Yard Waste Pickup

Capitol Waste Services, the trash hauler for the City of New Bedford, will collect any unpainted pumpkins, cornstalks, grass, leaves or twigs on your yard waste collection day.

The unpainted part is key; if you’ve decorated your pumpkin with paint, this is not the option for you.

Also, be sure to remove any lights or candles from the inside of pumpkins, and remove any rope, twine or wire from cornstalks.

Capitol will bring your yard waste to the Crapo Hill landfill and compost it there.

When Is Yard Waste Pickup in New Bedford?

Capitol Waste Services will collect yard waste on the day after your regular trash and recycling collection (with it being Monday if your regular trash pickup is on Friday).

“Even if you do not have other yard waste, place pumpkins and cornstalks in a paper yard waste bag or loose in a barrel (not a city cart) and set it at the curb by 7 a.m.,” Perez-Dormitzer said. “Please do not make bags or barrels too heavy.

Yard waste collection ends the week of December 11.

Drop It Off at the Recycling Center

Another option is to drop off the unpainted pumpkins or cornstalks at the recycling center at 1103 Shawmut Avenue, where you can place them with the rest of the yard waste. It is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

You must follow the same instructions with removing lights, candles, rope, twine and wires.

Compost It in Your Own Backyard

Not only can you put unpainted pumpkins and cornstalks in your own backyard compost bin, you can also add in vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells, grass, leaves and twigs, Perez-Dormitzer said.

Need a bin? You can purchase one at the Crapo Hill Landfill Scale House at 300 Samuel Barnet Boulevard in New Bedford Monday through Friday between 7:15 a.m. and 3 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

You can purchase the Earth Machine or the New Age Composter for just $25 each by paying with cash, check or money order. Credit and debit cards are not accepted.