Happy Fall, Chicago Food Scrap Composters!

Pumpkin time is here!

After fall festivities wind down, give your old pumpkins new life as compost. Pumpkins and gourds are accepted at all Food Scrap Drop-Off sites.

In 2025, we kept tons of pumpkins out of the landfill. It's time to do it again!

Here are a few important reminders:

Before you arrive,

• Remove paint, decorations, and candles (these items are not compostable)
• Break your pumpkin up into pieces (optional, but encouraged)

When you arrive, place your pumpkins in the green carts.

DO NOT leave pumpkins outside the carts.

If there is not enough space in the carts for the lids to close, please come back another day.

Visit Chicago.gov/PumpkinComposting for more information.

Don't miss the resources at the bottom of the webpage to help spread the word: trick-or-treat cards to put in candy bags and posters to hang around your community. One more idea-- organize a pumpkin carpool with friends and neighbors.

Looking for a Pumpkin Smash event to attend instead of a pumpkin drop-off? 

Visit scarce.org/pumpkins to find events throughout the Chicago region.

Help Chicago win the 2nd annual Clean-Off

Chicago is going up against Philly AND Los Angeles in a cross-country Clean-Off competition to see which city can pick up the most litter! The winning city will have bragging rights, and the top litter pickers will be eligible for cool prizes.

Anyone can participate by cleaning up litter within Chicago city limits Oct 1-31, whether it’s an organized group or on your own. Chicago beat Philly last year, and we need your help to do that again in 2026!

To join this competition, submit your litter picking hauls through the online form so organizers can tally up the results. For details and updates, visit https://www.chicagoenvironmentalists.org/the-clean-off.

Program metrics

Thanks to all of you for helping Chicago reduce its carbon footprint. Your impact continues to grow.

Your collective impact since the program started in October 2023:

• Over 9,480 households signed up
• 991 tons (1,982,000 pounds) of food scraps collected and turned into compost
• 648 MTCO₂E greenhouse gas emissions avoided (that's equivalent to conserving over 72,800 gallons of gasoline)

We'd love to have 10,000 participants by the end of the year. Use the "Share This Email" buttons at the bottom of this email to spread the word and recruit other composting friends.

Please contact us at DSScomposting@cityofchicago.org

with questions or feedback.

Thank you!

The Recycling and Materials Management Team

Department of Streets and Sanitation