Brightside St. Louis Hosts Pumpkin Toss and Compost Drop-Off Sites

City residents can compost pumpkins for free from Nov. 1 - 8

October 23, 2026 | 2 min reading time

Nothing is scarier than a pumpkin without a proper home. Pumpkins should always have a place to go after being a part of fall festivities, and it is important to keep pumpkins out of yard waste. Pumpkins are not accepted in city yard waste dumpsters or roll carts. They are classified as food waste and should be composted when possible.  

Join us Nov. 1 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for a Pumpkin Toss at the O’Fallon Park Rec Complex (4343 W Florissant Ave, St. Louis, MO 63115) parking lot. Residents may bring as many CLEAN pumpkins as they would like to compost for FREE. Pumpkins must be free of all glitter, paint, wax/candles, plastic, etc. Residents will toss their pumpkins as hard as they can into the provided pumpkin compost dumpster in order to break up the pumpkins into smaller pieces. This helps the composting process!

DROP-OFF SITES ARE FOR PUMPKINS ONLY.

After the event, pumpkins can be composted for free at these locations during park hours from Nov. 1-8: 

  • O'Fallon Park: Rec Complex (YMCA) 4343 W Florissant Ave, St. Louis, MO 63115, southwest corner of parking lot
  • Carondelet Park: 3900 Holly Hills Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63116, Compost and Recycling area off of Holly Hills Drive

Additional availability at:

  • STL Composting (Nov. 1 - Dec. 31), 560 Terminal Row, St. Louis, MO 63147
  • 1st Saturday of the month, 7:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Other STL Composting locations

Please consider composting your pumpkins this year to keep beneficial organic material out of the landfill. If you do not have the opportunity to take your pumpkins to one of these drop-off locations, please bag your pumpkins and place them in your TRASH (Blue or Brown) alley dumpster or roll cart for solid waste disposal.

Questions? Please contact Brightside St. Louis at 314-772-4646 or recycle@stlouis-mo.gov
 

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Related Services

  1. Residential Refuse Drop Off City Residents refuse dumping guidelines, hours and locations of Transfer Stations, including the types of refuse, bulk or yard waste the City will and will not accept.
  2. Prepare for Bulk and BOAT-E (Batteries-Oil-Appliances-Tires-Electronics) Item Pick-up and Disposal Instructions and services for pick up and collections for large/bulky Items and BOAT-E items (batteries, appliances, oil Appliances, tires, Electronics)
  3. Locate Compost and Wood Chips Pick Up Sites Find locations where City of St. Louis residents can pick up compost and wood chips at no cost.
  4. Report a Problem With Trash, Debris and Containers Report a problem with missing, misplaced, damaged or overflowing trash containers or commercial dumpster, unsatisfactory collection, billing or collection schedules.
  5. Prepare for Residential Refuse Collection Tips to prepare for residential refuse collection

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