TRICK or Treaters in West Oxfordshire are being urged not to let their used Jack o'lanterns go to waste this Halloween.

West Oxfordshire District Council is urging residents to recycle their pumpkins with their food waste collections over the next couple of weeks.

Pumpkins can be cut up and placed in a food waste bin or left beside food caddies for their usual weekly collection.

Last year across the UK, 15 million pumpkins were carved and then discarded.

Although 45per cent of households claim that their pumpkins are placed in their food waste bins after the scary celebrations, and around 28 per cent claim they composted them, that still leaves more than five million pumpkins heading to landfill on average each year.

Norman MacRae, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “Halloween is a hugely popular event with people of all ages across our district, but one of the scariest parts for us is the thought of all those pumpkins going to waste.

"It’s really easy to pop it into the food waste bin or next to it if it's full. Who knows, it may even be used as fertiliser to bring another pumpkin to life next year!”

Last year the council collected almost 3,600 tonnes of food waste in West Oxfordshire which was taken to the processing plant near Cassington to be recycled into electricity and fertiliser.

Cllr MacRae added: “It’s not just your pumpkins that can be recycled either, any other food leftovers, cooked or raw, can go in your food waste bin.”

For more information about waste and recycling in West Oxfordshire, or to order a free food waste bin and kitchen caddy, see www.westoxon.gov.uk/bins or call 01993 861000.