Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. By Sunday, November 1, most jack-o'-lanterns in Orland Park will look about the same: soft around the carved edges, a little wax pooled at the bottom, and dripping on the porch when you pick them up. Every year until this one, the choices were the trash can, a drive to an event, or a guess about the yard waste bag.
This fall there's a fourth choice. In July 2026, the Village Board approved a contract with WasteNot, Inc. for curbside compost collection, and the service started in August. It's the only pumpkin route in town that runs every week of the year. It also has the smallest container. Each of the other routes has its own limit, like a single Saturday, weekday garage hours, or a yard waste season that ends in December. Which one suits you depends on two things: how many pumpkins you have and how fast you want them gone.
The Bucket That Never Closes
The Village's August 14 announcement explains how WasteNot works. Pickup is biweekly. Members get an airtight 5-gallon receptacle, and at every stop the full one is swapped for a clean, sanitized one. There's no long-term commitment and no cancellation fee.
According to WasteNot's Orland Park page, biweekly collection starts at $20 a month and weekly collection starts at $30 a month. The accepted list is longer than a backyard compost pile can handle. It includes cooked or raw food scraps, meat, fish, bones, yard waste, flowers, and plant trimmings. The company's own shorthand is "if it grows, it goes," and it says anything once living can be composted because it processes at an industrial scale.
Pumpkins aren't named on that list. Under WasteNot's own rule they should qualify, since a pumpkin is about as clearly "once living" as household waste gets. If you're signing up mainly for jack-o'-lanterns, it's still worth confirming with the company.
The real limit is the bucket. Five gallons fits a week or two of kitchen scraps well. A big carving pumpkin will probably have to be cut down to fit, and a porch with three or four of them could take more than one pickup cycle. That's fine if you're in no hurry, because this is the one route without a deadline. Signing up now has a timing catch, though. Registration emails you the delivery date for your first bucket, and that bucket arrives on your first service day. If the first service day lands after Halloween, the pumpkins will be waiting for it.
Holidays don't knock out a pickup. WasteNot reschedules holiday-affected collections and lets members know. Thanksgiving week is included.
The Township Garage on Wolf Road
The one place in town that has advertised pumpkin drop-off is the Orland Township Road District's Highway Department. The Road District's website describes a November pumpkin recycling program. Pumpkins collected there go to local farms instead of landfills. Public recycling drop-off is at 16125 S. Wolf Road, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The site is closed on weekends and major holidays.
The page doesn't give a 2026 date or pumpkin-specific hours, and the holiday list beside the recycling hours still shows 2025 dates. Treat the program as likely, not confirmed. The Road District asks residents with questions to call (708) 403-5148.
If it runs again, the garage has the opposite trade-off from the bucket. There's no practical size limit, since you can drop off as many pumpkins as fit in the car. But it's only open weekdays during working hours, so it fits a lunch break or a day off better than a Saturday errand. The earliest weekday after Halloween is Monday, November 2.
The same garage takes old holiday string lights for recycling. That's convenient on a second trip once decorating season begins.
Two Smashes on One Saturday
For anyone who wants the pumpkins gone in one weekend trip, the nearest events both fall on Saturday, November 7, a week after Halloween.
- Lake Katherine Nature Center, 7402 Lake Katherine Drive, Palos Heights. 9 a.m. to noon. Free, with no registration.
- H-F Pumpkin Smash at Coyote Run Golf Course, 800 Kedzie Avenue, Flossmoor. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Both are part of a statewide network. Illinois Extension's Pumpkin Smash listing names Lake Katherine and Coyote Run among its Cook County sites. According to SCARCE, the nonprofit that coordinates many of these events, most 2026 smashes are set for November 7, and its site has a locator for finding others.
Smashes are the strictest route about what's inside the pumpkin. Illinois Extension asks people to remove candles, ribbons, paint, and any other non-organic material before bringing pumpkins. Before loading the car, check each one for:
- Tea lights and the metal cups they sit in
- Painted or glittered surfaces, which keep a pumpkin out of the compost pile
- Ribbons, wire, or stems wrapped in decorations
- Pushpins or stickers from a carving kit
SCARCE gives two reasons the effort matters. Pumpkins are about 90% water, and organic material breaking down in a landfill produces methane. Its 2025 program composted more than 200.2 tons of pumpkins.
Miss November 7 and there's one more event. SCARCE has a second-round smash on Saturday, November 28, 9 a.m. to noon, at 800 S. Rohlwing Road, Unit D, in Addison. It's a long drive from Orland Park for a few pumpkins, but it's the latest dated option in the research. It falls on the same Saturday as the Village's Christmas Parade, Tree Lighting & Festival at Village Green, which runs 5 to 8 p.m.
The Kraft Bag Question
The route most people try first is the paper yard waste bag at the curb, and the rules there are the least clear about pumpkins.
The Village's Waste Management page says WM collects yard waste weekly on your regular pickup day from April 1 through the second full week of December. It lists grass clippings, leaves, tree branches, and brush. Yard waste goes in Kraft paper bags sold at local stores, or in a 96-gallon cart you can rent or buy through WM's customer service line at (800) 964-8988. Brush has to be cut to 4-foot lengths, tied with string or twine, and kept under 50 pounds per bundle. Sod, whole trees, stumps, and dirt aren't accepted.
Pumpkins aren't on that list in either direction. The Village page doesn't say they're accepted or excluded, and the research didn't turn up an Orland Park-specific WM rule. If you'd rather know than guess, call the customer service number before bagging a jack-o'-lantern with the leaves.
The leaves themselves are simple. They go in the bags or the cart until mid-December. They can't be burned. The Village's fire regulations handout says burning leaves isn't allowed. Recreational fires are limited to seasoned firewood, charcoal, natural or propane gas, and commercial logs.
Matching the Route to the Porch
Each route has its own window and its own capacity.
| Route | When it's available | How much it takes | Open question |
|---|---|---|---|
| WasteNot curbside bucket | Year-round, biweekly or weekly | One 5-gallon bucket per pickup | Pumpkins covered by "if it grows, it goes," not named outright |
| Road District, 16125 S. Wolf Road | Weekdays, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., in November | As many as you can carry in | 2026 program date not posted |
| Lake Katherine or Coyote Run smash | Saturday, November 7 only | As many as you can carry in | None; remove candles and paint |
| WM Kraft bags or cart | Weekly through the second full week of December | Bag or 96-gallon cart | Pumpkins not addressed |
One jack-o'-lantern and no hurry: the WasteNot bucket handles it, and handles your Thanksgiving scraps after that. A porch full of pumpkins: a Saturday smash or a weekday stop at the township garage gets rid of them in one trip. Pumpkins still on the porch in late November: Addison on November 28, the garage if its program is running, or a call to WM before the yard waste season ends.
The Village's own November calendar is already filling up. The Turkey Trot starts at Franklin Loebe Center, 14650 Ravinia Avenue, on November 26 from 8 to 10 a.m. Registration closes November 15 or when the race fills. Two days later comes the parade and tree lighting. Getting the pumpkins off the porch before then clears room for whatever goes up next.
Fall cleanup is often when homeowners start thinking about what the house might be worth next year. If that's on your list along with the leaf bags, Aaron Gaines can put together a current, no-obligation valuation for your Orland Park home whenever you're ready. Get Your Free Home Valuation.
