You're Invited To Roosevelt Island Free Pumpkin Bash And Leaf GatheringFriday November 4 - Help Recycle, Compost, Rake Leaves And Enjoy ApplePie & Cider

Roosevelt Island resident and iDig2Learn founder Christina Delfico reports:

Halloween is spooky but our food scraps need not haunt the landfill!

PLEASE SAVE THAT MUSHY PUMPKIN!

Bring your pumpkin, squash or gourds and join us for a free, fun Pumpkin Bash / Leaf Gathering event on Friday afternoon, November 4th from noon to 3PM. Rain or shine.

35% of NYC's landfill waste stream is organic. That means when we drop our food scraps to be processed into compost they return to our island as healthy soil. And Islanders know a lot about composting. In partnership with The NYC Compost Project hosted by BigReuse, alongside RIOC, with volunteers from the RI Garden Club, Girl Scouts & iDig2Learn, Roosevelt Island residents have dropped over 23,000 pounds of food scraps on Saturdays since November of 2015. That is more than 11 tons, or the equivalent of five SUV's full of food scraps, which have been diverted from landfill. Very impressive!

So let's bring those pumpkins and have a good time at our pumpkin smash event as we demonstrate the full cycle from food to field.

And in the spirit of recycling, we invite you to bring your gently used Halloween costume to donate.

Manhattan Park is generously providing the host location on the Manhattan Park great lawn. And RIOC, Roosevelt Island Garden Club and iDig2Learn are partnering with The NYC Compost Project hosted by BigReuse for this composting event. Huge thanks to all the volunteers, supporters and collaborators from 217PTA, RI Parents' Network, Island Kids, Girl Scouts, RI Youth Program, Beacon PS217, Gristedes, Wengerd Farm, RIRA and RI Explorers.

SAVE THE DATE - NOV 4th - RAIN OR SHINE

What: Pumpkin Bash / Leaf Gathering event

When: Friday, November 4th, 2016

Time: Noon to 3PM - (half day at PS IS 217)

Location: Manhattan Park great lawn

Made possible by: RIOC, NYC Compost hosted by BigReuse, Manhattan Park, Roosevelt Island Garden Club and iDig2Learn

In Collaboration with: 217PTA, RI Parents' Network, Island Kids, Girl Scouts, RI Youth Program, Beacon PS217, Gristedes, Wengerd Farm, RIRA and RI Explorers

Cost: Free

Who: Children and their families and anyone with a pumpkin, squash or gourd to recycle for compost!

Activities: Raking leaves, smashing pumpkins - eating apple pie and drinking apple cider from our Wengerd farm market and enjoying coffee from Gristedes.

Bring: Your mushy pumpkin, squash or gourd and your smile.

Donate: Gently used Halloween costume.

Goal: To highlight that, rather than be thrown into the trash and trucked to a landfill, plant based materials like pumpkins and leaves, can be composted and returned to the earth.

Together we could keep even more out of landfill and have a smashing good time.