Members of the public are invited to drop off pumpkins from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4 at The Meadows Parking Lot, 1800 N.W. O’Brien Road.

John Knox Village is a drop-off location for KC Can Compost’s annual Great Pumpkin Rescue event, which is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4 at The Meadows, 1800 N.W. O’Brien Road.

Everyone is invited to drop off their Halloween pumpkins (along with a $3 donation for the first two pumpkins and $1 per pumpkin after) to help minimize the number of pumpkins that are taken to landfills. More than 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins are tossed into the landfill every year, according to KC Can Compost. In addition to taking up lots of landfill space, the pumpkins release copious amounts of methane into the atmosphere. The pumpkins that are collected will be given to a local compost company and turned into a nutrient-rich soil amendment for local farmers.

Members of the Village Gardeners Association will help collect the pumpkins at the Village’s drop-off site. In addition to the Village campus, KC Can Compost is collecting pumpkins at four additional locations around the metropolitan area, including Ivanhoe Community Garden in Kansas City, Missouri; Corinth Shopping Center in Prairie Village, Kansas; Platte Landing Park in Parkville, Missouri; and KC Can Warehouse in Kansas City, Missouri.

John Knox Village has enjoyed a long-time partnership with KC Can Compost, an organization that collects restaurant food waste for composting. In 2022, the Village diverted 21,975 pounds of compostable waste from the landfill. This is equivalent to 14,987 net pounds of CO2 saved from entering the atmosphere or 17,086 miles driven in an average passenger vehicle.