The Vernon Hills Park District partnered with SWALCO and Go Green! Vernon Hills/Lincolnshire, to offer a free pumpkin composting drop-off off at 1400 Indianwood Drive on Thursday November 5 from 730 am – 4 pm. Pumpkins as well as other decorations such as corn stalks, squashes, and gourds can be dropped off to compost. This is a composting initiative working with SWALCO to keep food scraps out of the landfills. Vernon Hills Park District is planning to reuse the composted items in our parks.

Pumpkins must be free of any decorations including candles, yarn, stickers, googly eyes, plastic ears and non-biodegradable materials. Please remove any plastics or or metals.  

Why Keep Pumpkins Out of the Landfill?

• It avoids landfill greenhouse gas emissions from decomposing organics.  Landfills are currently the 3rd largest producers of methane in the U.S.!
• It produces a nutrient-dense soil amendment that can be used.
• We’re saving gallons and gallons of water by composting.  Pumpkins are 90% water which is great for our soil.  

Composting is nature’s oldest form of recycling and has so many benefits.  To learn more about composting, please visit www.swalco.org for a bounty of information about composting in all its many forms.

If there are any questions please contact James Kim or 847-996-6817