Students Turn Pumpkin Smash Into Lesson About Environment

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Catapulting pumpkins at a Chicago high school turned into a lesson about the environment and engineering.

Students at Chicago Vocational Career Academy, also known as CVS, built a large structure to hurl Halloween leftovers into a large dumpster.

It turns out pumpkins left in landfills create a big problem, since they emit methane gas. So people brought them to Saturday's pumpkin smash at CVS to safely dispose of them.

"Pumpkin smashes are a great way to divert organic waste from our landfills, to help promote a circular economy, support urban farms and gardens with compost, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said Gemini Bhalsod, a horticulture educator with University of Illinois Extension in Cook County.

The smashed pumpkins will be taken to a commercial waste facility.