After the treats have been collected and the costumes put away, what do you do with your pumpkin?

Tri-Cities residents can place their pumpkins into their green carts for curbside pickup, along with their other food scraps and yard trimmings.

Unwanted unwrapped candy can also be dropped into the green cart rather than the trash, according to a press release from the City of Port Coquitlam. If a quarter of PoCo households carve a pumpkin and place it in their green cart, that simple action could divert thousands of pounds of material away from the landfill. The pumpkins and other green cart materials go to a regional composting facility, where they are turned into soil amendments that are sold to farmers and gardeners.

The City of Port Moody suggests the following additional ways to recycle your pumpkin:

. Chop your used pumpkin into thumb-sized pieces and put the pieces into a backyard composter. Or put pieces of pumpkin in a worm compost bin. The worms will thank you and you will get nutrient-rich compost that you can use to grow next year's pumpkin.

. Dig a shallow trench in your vegetable or flower garden and place chopped pieces of your pumpkin throughout. Fill in the trench and let your jack-o'-lantern rest in peace.