Embargoed for publication until 0.01, Friday 15th October 2021
Pumpkin horror story could be coming to a fairy-tale end, as growing numbers eat their ghoulish gourds Proportion of Halloween pumpkins eaten doubled from 3 in 10 in 2015 to 3 in 5 in 2020 Environmental charity encourages more people to hop on the delicious trend as increasing numbers celebrating Halloween mean 14.5 million still set to go to waste This is enough to make a bowl of pumpkin soup for the whole UK population
New research from environmental charity Hubbub reveals some gourd news, as more and more people are viewing Halloween pumpkins as food and not just a decoration. The survey carried out by Censuswide asked 2,000 UK residents about their Halloween habits and reveals that 3 in 5 (59%) of pumpkins bought for carving were eaten last Halloween (2020). In 2015* only 1 in 3 (31%) were eaten, rising to more than 2 in 5 (46%) in 2019* showing an encouraging trend in the fight against food waste. However, the survey also shows that more people celebrate Halloween than ever before (up to 56% in 2020 from 50% in 2019), and those households which celebrate carve an average of just over two pumpkins each. This means 35 million pumpkins are set to be bought this year with 14.5 million set to go to waste1. This is almost as much as the 15 million wasted in 2015 and enough to make a bowl of pumpkin soup for the whole UK population. The findings come as Hubbub launches its annual Pumpkin Rescue campaign, to help tackle the spooky number of pumpkins set to go to waste this Halloween. Last Halloween, 33 million pumpkins were bought for carving but nearly 12 million of these were left uneaten2. Encouragingly, awareness of the fact that carving pumpkins can actually be eaten has increased; 53% compared with 42% last year.