MADISON COUNTY — Rusty Wheat is asking residents to give their leftover pumpkins another use through his Chain Gang Harvest Recycling Program, collecting uncarved, unpainted pumpkins for wildlife, area petting zoos, and farmers.
Wheat, a community volunteer and environmental advocate, said he has operated the program for four years. Pumpkins can be dropped off at 4831 Wanda Road as part of his “Chain Gang” initiative.
“This is something I have been doing for four years now; I call it my ‘Harvest Recycling Program,’” Wheat said. “It just keeps growing.”
The effort aims to reuse pumpkins after Halloween rather than send them to landfills.
Wheat said the biggest collection day is the day after Thanksgiving.
“All donated pumpkins go to the wildlife or area petting zoos, farmers, and such,” Wheat said.
Wheat also works to clean up roadside litter across the Riverbend area and has pressed local officials to regulate trash-hauling trucks. He operates the Chain Gang as a not-for-profit charter under the Illinois Adopt-A-Highway program. He has said the name represents his “ties” to his “community.”
He originally adopted a 1.3-mile stretch of Illinois Route 143 near Roxana and Wood River. He cleans that stretch in honor of his late brother, David, who was killed there by a drunken driver decades ago.
