As the leaves fall and the days become shorter, that means only one thing… Halloween is just around the corner, ready to offer tricks and treats. We all love a good treat, so why not treat the planet this Halloween? Each year, Halloween generates a large surge in waste and high energy bills. Scary right. But not this year! We have a few (nice) tricks up our sleeves to help you have a howling good time this Halloween whilst being a bit more sustainable.
Eco-Friendly Halloween Costumes
A study conducted by Hubbub found that 83% of Halloween costumes use non-recyclable oil-based plastics – equivalating to about 83 million plastic bottles wasted. This means that they are destined to end up in landfill. It was also found that 7 million costumes are thrown out each year in the UK. But what can we do about this? Well, there are a few ways we can reduce Halloween costumes from being thrown away or made sustainably; the best approaches are to:
Re-wear and reuse the costumes each year
Donate to charity
Give it to a friend or family member
Make your own costume (or at least parts of it)
If you have children, why not try setting up a costume-swapping event in their school or nursery? This will encourage others to be more sustainable, and you won’t have a significant amount of money on their costumes which they will grow out of before next Halloween. To increase the chance of this event being set up, open donations to the school to help develop the school environment.
Green Decorations
We all enjoy putting together a spooky display of decorations, but what do we do each year? Purchase some new decorations to spice it up a bit and throw the old ones away. To be sustainable with your decorations, there are three options.
DIY Halloween Decorations
Use any leftover items (such as the inner cardboard of toilet rolls) that you can find to DIY your own decorations. Opt for materials that are sustainable and will last for a few more Halloweens. Dug up some household items and have no idea how to transform them into something truly monstrous without creating Frankenstein’s monster? Check out how others have created their own gruesome decorations online. You can find tutorials, instructions, and inspiration online to guide you in your creations. Invite friends and family over to help you with creating decorations.
Reuse Decorations
Reuse is the pinnacle of sustainability (and circular economies), so reusing Halloween decorations from previous years is great. If you want something different, switch up their positioning or source some second-hand Halloween decorations – ensure that they will be able to last for more Halloweens to come.
Sustainable Treats
Halloween is a time for magic, fun, and treats. But with treats come the wrappers, and the waste they generate. On average, a single trick-or-treater creates 0.5kg of waste, just from Halloween wrappers. The good news is that we can all do our part to help the environment by choosing sweets with recyclable and compostable packaging. And if you really want to make a difference, consider making your own treats to hand out - not only will it reduce waste, but it can also be a fun and creative activity.
Waste Reduction
A scary amount of waste is created each year at Halloween – and no, it's not the good type of scary. Waste is everywhere, from decorations, treat packaging and pumpkins. Approximately 18,000 tonnes of pumpkins are thrown away each year (equivalent to 360 million tonnes of pumpkin pie), with people often discarding their pumpkins in their bins and sending them to landfills. From there, pumpkins decompose and release methane; a greenhouse gas 25 times more harmful to our planet than carbon dioxide.
Minimise the amount of food waste and methane produced by using the insides of the pumpkins to make food and treats or dispose in your food waste bin or compost heap. Don’t fancy turning your pumpkin into treats or compost? Leave your pumpkin outside where animals are most found so that they can eat it – make sure that there is nothing on it that can harm them, such as paint, pen, or candle wax.
Ensure that you recycle any waste or packaging you may have from decorations, food, or costumes correctly. Keep a look out for specific instructions on how to dispose of everything correctly. Using eco-friendly products can limit the amount of waste that you have as some products may be biodegradable. If you can, upcycle your costumes and decorations into something for next year. This eliminates the need to dispose of them completely, getting another use out of them for another year.
A Sustainability Success
A sustainable Halloween doesn't mean sacrificing the fun and spookiness of the holiday. In fact, it can enhance your Halloween experience, bringing a sense of fulfilment in knowing you're contributing to a greener, cleaner planet. Grab your broomsticks and jack-o'-lanterns and embark on a sustainable Halloween adventure that's sure to be a howling success!
Have a spooktacular Halloween!
