Is it just me or do Halloween decorations show up in stores earlier and earlier every year? I could swear I saw some in early August! Here in Texas, that’s like the middle of summer with 100+ degree weather. Doesn’t count as Fall, right?
Through all the hoopla and festivities, it is easy to forget what happens to all those decorations, costumes and candies after Halloween ends. Most of it is plastic trash that will end up in landfills.
It is estimated that about 8 million metric tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans each year. That is equivalent to one full garbage truck of plastic entering our oceans every minute! If this continues, there will be more plastic than fish in our seas by 2050.
Why should you care?
Plastics have invaded our ecosystems, its animal life and our bodies in ways that would have been considered unfathomable by its inventors. It has changed our habits to be driven by sheer convenience – using something once and just “throwing it away”. But there is no “away” when it comes to plastics.
It is estimated that plastics take 500 – 1000 years to break up, which means every bit of plastic made still exists in some form or the other. And plastics don’t ‘break down’ or biodegrade like organic matter does – it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces called micro-plastics which are impossible to filter out. These are eaten by marine life which mistake it for food/plankton and this is decimating marine species at an alarming rate. These petroleum-based plastics enter human bodies through these fish we eat or through our water sources like lakes, rivers as well.
Here’s how you can enjoy this sweet, fun and spooky holiday with lesser impact to the environment and your wallet.
Trick-or-Treating
We had no clue what Halloween was back home in India; we don’t have kids of our own and have mostly lived in apartments here in the US. Halloween, for us, was mostly limited to attending costume parties – we’ve seen very few kids Trick-or-Treating.
Last year was our first Halloween in a family residential neighborhood and we simply handed over store-bought, plastic-wrapped candy. But, seeing our sidewalk littered with candy-wrappers the next morning was not a pretty sight.
This will be our first Halloween since we decided to reduce our plastic-usage and waste and I’m researching what to distribute to the kids that isn’t wrapped in plastic. It is TOUGH!!
The best way would be to make your own treats or candy or baked goods at home to hand out – but I’ve heard that most Trick or Treaters will throw away any non-packaged snacks due to safety concerns. So, this will only lead to food wastage, which is not what I want.
Here are some other options to consider:
- Alter Eco Truffles: These come individually wrapped in compostable wrappers. But they’re $45 for a 60-piece box, so at $0.75 per candy, it is more than what I’m willing to spend.
- Individual foil-wrapped candies: Aluminum foil wrappers are recyclable. Of course, I don’t have any control over how the wrappers are disposed once I hand out the candy. Remember the ‘scrunch test’ when it comes to determining if the wrapper is foil or plastic – if it pops back to its original shape after being crumpled, it is plastic-foil composite which is not recyclable (like a chip bag).
- Cardboard-wrapped candies: Some candies like Junior Mints come wrapped in card stock/paper than can be composted or recycled.
- Consider handing out recycled-content pencils or soy-based crayon instead of candy – most kids can use them. Plus, you don’t have to worry about allergies to candy.
If you’re going Trick or Treating with your kids, here are some suggestions:
- Use a pillow case or reusable bag to collect trick-or-treat goodies.
- Go to just 1 or 2 streets instead of every house in the neighborhood, to limit how much plastic-wrapped candy the kids get. They won’t eat all of it anyways.
- If you end up with a lot of extra candy, consider donating it to a Halloween Candy Buyback program, that sell your excess candy to generate funds for Veterans.
Costumes
Most Halloween costumes I’ve bought in the past, have been wrapped in plastic bags, been really flimsy and poor quality and I’ve only worn them just once. This year, I’ve dug through my closet and found a couple of my older costumes. So, I plan to reuse one of them for costume parties that I’ve been invited to, this year. It is better to reuse than buy new stuff that requires more resources and energy to manufacture, pack and transport.
Here’s some other ideas for adults and kids to reduce waste from costumes:
- If you have kids, you can ask if any neighbors or friends have their kids’ old costumes that they don’t plan to use, and you can borrow it for a day. Kids grow out of costumes so quickly and I’m sure they’ll be happy to lend you theirs. Maybe you can bake them a nice pumpkin pie in return 🙂
- Look around in thrift stores – you may be able to find some clothing items that can be pieced together to make a costume.
- Search the Facebook MarketPlace or your local ‘Sell Buy’ groups (like NextDoor) to see if anyone is giving away old costumes.
- Ask your friends if they’re willing to exchange costumes – you’ll be surprised at what they have.
- Shop your own closet – maybe you have a sparkly dress and some pearls that can pass off as a 20’s look. Or some torn baggy jeans and loose shirts for that grunge look.
- If you’re creative, make your own or your kids’ costumes. Pinterest has loads of ideas for DIY Halloween costumes.
Decorations
For Halloween decor, we still have some scary signs and hanging skeletons from last year that we will re-use. Only additional things we may get are real pumpkins and some natural hay this year. I made pumpkin pies and cookies last year – I can use these real pumpkins instead of store-bought pumpkin pie filling this time. The seeds can be roasted. Both can be composted, if not used.
If you must buy outdoor decor, scary lights, inflatables etc., see if you can find them second-hand on Craigslist or in garage sales first. If you already have a bunch of decor, keep using them till it is viable – there is no point in adding perfectly good decor to landfill just because it is plastic.
My biggest tip, as with most things, is to plan ahead. If you wait till the day before Halloween, you may find yourself at the nearest store buying candy, cheap costumes and plastic-decorations.
So, whether you use one or multiple of these ideas, it is possible to keep the environment in mind and help keep plastic waste to a minimum during Halloween. Try to be a conscious consumer and try to do the best you can with what you have.
Do you have any other Zero-Waste Halloween tips to share? Any more ideas for low-waste treats or goodies to hand out? Let me know in the comments below.
