Wake County: Don't throw your Halloween pumpkins in the trash!

WAKE COUNTY (WTVD) -- Now that Halloween's over, what do you do with your jack-o-lantern?

The Wake County Solid Waste Management is asking folks not to chuck their pumpkins in the trash.

Instead, they want residents to bring them to a food waste collection bin at one of their four waste management convenience sites.

The county collects food waste and turns it into compost to keep it out of the landfill.

They're asking folks not to bring painted pumpkins or pumpkins with any glues on them, hoping to avoid having them add to the five pounds of waste each person in Wake County produces, on average, every day.

"In Wake County, about 15 percent of the waste that goes to our landfill is food waste," said Heather Cashwell, with Wake County Environmental Services. "And an even bigger percentage of that is organic matter, so we're trying to provide alternatives to disposal for this material."