Sustainable Steps

The Whole Pumpkin

A Sustainable Steps Field Mission

Every year, millions of pumpkins are carved, light the town for a night, and then get tossed in the trash. In a landfill, a pumpkin rots without oxygen and releases methane, a greenhouse gas that traps far more heat than carbon dioxide. But a pumpkin used from top to bottom can be tasty soup, crunchy roasted seeds, and rich compost that feeds the soil for next year’s garden. One pumpkin, zero waste, and a lot of deliciousness.

Our sustainable mission — should you choose to accept it — is to use the whole pumpkin this year.

This mission is open now through November 2, 2026, so you can finish after Halloween night and still submit. Our Great Pumpkin winner will be announced November 16, 2026.

Sign in or sign up to collect your Steps. Everyone can participate — the real reward is in the experience — but you’ll need a (free, fun, zero obligation) Steps Account to earn rewards and win prizes.

The mission

Use every part of one pumpkin, with nothing going to waste.

1. Carve it. Carve or decorate your pumpkin whatever spooky way you like. (As long as it’s compostable at the end.)
2. Eat it. Roast the seeds and cook the flesh into something delicious: soup, muffins, roasted cubes, pie.
3. Return the rest to the earth. Put the shell and scraps in your compost or green bin.

Grand Prize

• A free Sustainable Steps t-shirt, the design of your choice, with custom wording if you want it, mailed to you anywhere in Canada or the United States except Quebec (sadly — their rules)
• Participating from somewhere else in the world? Let us know and we’ll check their contest rules. If they let you play, we’ll include you. If they don’t, you can still play along for the Steps (and the sustainable family fun).
• Judging will cover awesomeness across all four categories, and the winner will be chosen at the sole discretion of Sustainable Steps

What everyone will earn

Everyone who completes this mission will earn:

• 100 Steps in total:
  • 20 Steps for each approved photo submission (4 photos max)
  • 20 Steps bonus for once we’ve manually approved your whole submission
• A Whole Pumpkin badge you can visit on your My Steps page whenever you like

How to Enter

Complete both the SHOW and TELL portions of this page below.

SHOW: Upload photos of each stage. You can do this all at once or one at a time using the form below. You can upload more than one photo per category if you like. Once you’ve successfully uploaded a photo, click the box beneath it to cross it off your task list. If you see this as a bullet point instead of a check box, it means you need to sign into your account to get credit.

TELL us about your experience in the form below. Was it fun? What did you make with the insides of your ghoulish creation?

Click SUBMIT when you’re all done, and our judges will go over your photos, share them if you say we can, and award you with the final 20 points and Whole Pumpkin badge.

WAIT for us choose a winner, which we’ll post on or before November 16th.

Tips for a safe, tasty pumpkin

• LED tea lights are safer than candles.
• Source your pumpkin anytime after October 1st. Uncarved pumpkins can happily last a month or more. The flesh isn’t exposed until you cut it, so carving is what starts the clock.
• Carve late: A carved pumpkin usually stays fresh for 2-3 days. We usually carve ours on Halloween itself, but you can do it a day or two before if you like.
• Take your design photo right away after carving. It will be its most terrifyingly beautiful at this stage.
• Take the flesh out while you carve. Those innards won’t be food safe once the pumpkin has been outside with a candle in it.
• Skip leaving pumpkins outside for wildlife. It can attract bears, deer and rodents, so once the spooky night is through, bring in your pumpkin and compost or green bin it the next day.

Show us

Upload four photos: your finished design, something you made from the seeds, something you made from the flesh, and the shell and scraps being composted or put out with green waste. Keep faces out of the frame (hands, pumpkins and food are perfect).

Tell us all about it

Fine print

• We’d love to feature your photos on our blog and social channels, but we won’t until and unless we receive permission in your submission form.
• All Steps earned will be subject to manual approval. While nearly anything goes in the creative department, we’ll reverse Steps if we feel like a submission is from a bot or not legit.
• The winning entry is judged on creativity, enthusiasm, and how well the design uses the whole pumpkin. The winner is chosen by Sustainable Steps.
• Anyone under the age of majority needs a parent or guardian to enter and accept prizes.
• This contest is open to everyone in Canada and the United States, but (sadly) void in Quebec because of regulations that rule us out.

Have fun! And shoot us questions along the way anytime: info@sustainablesteps.ca