I moved to Brooklyn from the Finger Lakes in August, so this is my first fall season here. My street off Smith still has decorative pumpkins on nearly every stoop, and a few have started to slump and leak onto the steps. I don't want to be the only person who drags a rotten pumpkin to the curb, but I also don't want to be the person who leaves one until May. Is there a normal week when people throw them out? Do you wait for the brown organics bin to have room, or just use a black trash bag? Our brown bin is basically a coffee ground museum at this point.

I'm in a Hamilton Heights walk-up, so no stoop, but someone left a pumpkin in the mail room and it's now a fuzzy puddle. The super says it's 'not his problem until it smells.' Does sanitation actually take them in regular trash? I tried one in a paper bag and by the next morning the bag had melted into the curb. I think I should have used two bags or maybe plastic.

firstwinter, paper bags are a trap once the pumpkin starts weeping. I've lived here long enough to know nobody is coming for your stoop pumpkin. Sanitation will take it in a black bag, but if it's soft, double bag it and don't carry it by the bottom. Brown bin is fine too, just don't let a frozen pumpkin shell glue itself to the bottom of the bin. My move: wait for a cold night, bag it, and put it out late. If it's still solid enough, a neighbor's kid might even take it for target practice before the truck comes. Not really, but you get the idea.

DykerNewbie here. My next-door neighbor still has two pumpkins and a whole hay bale out from Halloween. The pumpkins have collapsed to the point they look like bumpy orange pillows. No rats yet that I've seen, but squirrels are nibbling. I live in a building with a trash compactor room and a sign that says no food or liquids, so I've been too nervous to toss a pumpkin in there. Does a pumpkin count as food? Should I just leave mine in the courtyard until spring?

Thanks, everyone. I double-bagged ours last night and put it in the black bin because the brown bin was, as predicted, full of coffee grounds. It was only about half soft, and sanitation took it this morning with no note left. So I guess that's the answer: black bag, late night, no soul searching. DykerNewbie, a hay bale might be a different beast. Now I'm looking at our decorative corn stalks and wondering if those are regular trash or need to be tied with twine.

smalltown_steph, corn stalks can go in regular trash, but cut them down a little so the bag doesn't rip. Twine is fine if you have it; just don't put them in paper recycling, because they'll get pulled out or gunk up the whole bin. DykerNewbie, if there's no smell and the neighbor isn't complaining, I'd let the squirrels finish it. A dead Christmas tree on a fire escape can last till Easter in this town, so a soft pumpkin in a courtyard is practically punctual.