Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) is urging residents to get ahead of the carve and help reduce scary amounts of waste this Halloween season.

There are a whole host of ways to join in with Halloween fun without contributing to the horrific levels of waste. And cutting the waste often means giving costs the chop, too.

From soups to pies, check out the hubbub.org.uk/how-to-eat-pumpkin for great recipes and advice for making the most of your pumpkin's flesh after it has been scooped out ready for carving.

And once your grinning gourd ghoul is past its prime, breathe new life into it by composting if you can. If you cannot compost this year, get ready for next Halloween by taking advantage of discounts on compost bins: somersetwaste.gov.uk/home-composting

If composting is not for you, make sure you add pumpkins to your food waste. All the food waste collected in Somerset - a staggering 22,542 tonnes in 2020-21 - is recycled in the county, turned into farm compost and electricity for homes at the anaerobic digestion plant at Walpole near Bridgwater.

If you are dressing up or preparing for a Halloween party, avoid single-use plastic supermarket products and instead go for spooktastic costumes from old sheets and cardboard boxes that can be recycled later.

Preparing for trick-or-treaters? Get the children involved in making home-made healthier option rather than shop-bought sweets.

You can find lots of free recipes from the national Love Food Hate Waste campaign: lovefoodhatewaste.com

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For more information about what happens to everything you recycle, visit somersetwaste.gov.uk/recycling-tracker. Last year, recycling and reuse in the county saved around 123,000 tonnes of carbon.