THEY will soon light up the dark on the spookiest night of the year.
But campaigners are saying that pumpkin lanterns aren't just for Halloween - they can be used for dinner as well.
Zero Waste Scotland is calling on Scots to tackle the "frightful" number of pumpkins which go straight into the bin every year.
Research reveals that 1.8 million pumpkins were carved in Scotland last year, but more than 1.1 million were thrown away afterwards - enough pumpkins to stretch from Edinburgh to Stornoway.
The anti-waste group say that it would be much better for the environment if some of those went into a good pumpkin pie, or were blended into a hearty soup.
They will be handing our recipe cards to help people get the most out of their pumpkins, saying that there's no excuse for wasting good food.
A study by Zero Waste Scotland found that while four out of five people said they were concerned about the issue of food waste, seven out of ten pumpkins carved for Halloween didn’t get eaten.
More than half of all respondents said they had never thought of a Halloween pumpkin as food, and most didn't know how to cook one and even felt guilty about it.
Zero Waste Scotland will be attending Edinburgh Famer’s Market on Saturday 14th October and hosting a cooking demo showing consumers how to use your pumpkin carvings and make pumpkin risotto.
Recipe cards will be given out and people will be encouraged to follow the Pumpkin trail to find all the ingredients at the Farmer’s market to make the recipes, while they will also post links on their website on how to scare up dishes from leftover pumpkins.
Ylva Haglund, Food Waste Campaigns Manager, Zero Waste Scotland said:
“Halloween is now the second biggest party night after New Year’s Eve in Scotland and as such it’s important we don’t just keep creating an ever-larger mountain of food waste.
That’s why, through our ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ campaign we want to inspire everyone about what they can do with their pumpkin carvings including making a delicious meal the whole family can enjoy.”
Environment Secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, added: “This seasonal campaign is a great example of how we can help people value food and avoid wasting it. We’ve set an ambitious target to reduce Scotland’s food waste by 33 per cent by 2025.
"By making people aware of the alternatives to throwing things away we are giving them the chance to make the right choices when it comes to food.”
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