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Dr. Rebecca Ryals: Pumpkin disposal and composting

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What should you do with that jack-o-lantern after Halloween? Composting your old pumpkin may be the most planet-friendly choice. On November 4, 2o25, SciLine interviewed Dr. Rebecca Ryals, an associate professor of life and environmental sciences at University of California, Merced, and has studied the environmental effects of composting for more than 20 years.

TV bundle includes:

  • Soundbite (SOT)
  • VOSOT script (can be used as-is or modified)
  • Raw, full-length interview video & log with timecodes (upon request via form below)

These resources are free to use. No attribution to SciLine is required.

Soundbite (SOT) and pronouncer

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Click for VOSOT script (can be used as-is or modified)

ANCHOR
WITH HALLOWEEN BEHIND US… WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH THOSE OLD JACK-O-LANTERNS? TO HELP THE PLANET… DON’T LET YOUR HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN TURN INTO A LANDFILL NIGHTMARE.

VO
SENDING YOUR PUMPKIN TO THE COMPOST PILE… INSTEAD OF THE TRASH… COULD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. DOCTOR REBECCA RYALS (reh-BEH-kuh RY-ulz)… A PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, MERCED…HAS STUDIED COMPOSTING FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS… AND SAYS THAT ANYTHING THAT KEEPS PUMPKINS OUT OF THE LANDFILL… CAN HELP THE CLIMATE.

SOT
Super: Dr. Rebecca Ryals – associate professor at University of California, Merced
Duration: 0:29
We actually send one billion pounds of pumpkins to the landfill in this country every single year. That’s a lot of organic material. And organic material like pumpkins, when it goes to the landfill, breaks down without oxygen. And when that happens, the microbes that do that down without oxygen, release a gas called methane, which is a very powerful greenhouse gas. So if we can avoid sending pumpkins to the landfill, then we don’t release that methane into the atmosphere in the first place.

VO
DOCTOR RYALS ALSO SAYS THERE ARE ALSO BIG CLIMATE BENEFITS TO COMPOSTING FOOD SCRAPS… COFFEE GROUNDS… RAKED LEAVES… AND OTHER NATURAL MATERIALS.

Raw, full-length interview covers:

  • The environmental benefits of composting organic waste (like pumpkins, food, or raked leaves) rather than sending it to the landfill—including creating nutrient-rich soil, and preventing emissions of a greenhouse gas called methane;
  • The role of methane—which is more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after its release—in climate change;
  • How to compost your pumpkin, including removing non-compostable items like candles and candle wax, and then either composting at home, or participating in a community or municipal composting program;
  • Whether pumpkins that have been painted, or decorated with other items, can be composted; and
  • Other types of household waste that can be composted.

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