A recent admonition from the Zero Waste organization in Oakland had this to say: “I BELONG IN THE GREEN CART ONCE I ROT”

Well yes, that makes sense too, but in this case they were talking about pumpkins.

Pumpkins are one of the universally available, organic products that people take into their houses and then discard. Christmas trees are not nearly so easily disintegrated.

I have to take gentle issue with this recommendation to make use of some organized system of discard that is controlled by a garbage company, even if it reputedly goes to a compost pile. Who needs the intercession of that abomination, the garbage industry?

Except for the most intensively urban environment, all of us have access to a patch of soil. A front yard, a back yard, a highway island. That’s where a decomposing pumpkin belongs. Everything rots and adds to the soil. A pumpkin might even leave some seeds lying on the ground to blaze into green next spring. I don’t trust any garbage company to do anything beneficial with any resource. To a garbage company, a compost operation is not a way to close the agricultural cycle. It is just a way to get rid of garbage. That is always their dominant mentality. Resource conservation is not on their radar. Making money by getting rid of annoying resources for the irresponsible public is all they are about. Don’t encourage them. Boycott garbage companies every chance you get. You can bless a local plot of ground with a lovely infusion of organic amendment from your pumpkin. Do it!