What’s the scariest part of Halloween? The amount of waste it generates! Read on for 5 easy tips for a more sustainable Halloween.
1. reuse, thrift, borrow, or make your own costume
Unfortunately, many costumes are purchased for a single night of use, and often end up in the landfill once disposed. To minimize your costume’s environmental impact, consider these options for a more sustainable Halloween:
Reuse or borrow a costume
The most sustainable Halloween costume? The one in your closet already! Wearing a costume from a previous year is easier on the environment and your wallet, plus, you’ll know it fits well! Swap with a friend if you want to wear something new, or exchange your kids’ costumes with other parents.
Make Your Own Costume
Store-bought costumes are often made from uncomfortable, synthetic materials that are either too hot or too cold for the weather. What could be more comfortable than wearing your own closet?
Look in your closet for staples that easily convert into a costume, with little or no purchase necessary. Think Black Cat, Ballerina, Lumberjack, Risky Business, etc.! There are LOTS of ideas online for this, just make sure you know what you’ll do with the costume pieces after Halloween: can they be repurposed, reused again, or recycled?
Grainy photo, but here we’re a lumberjack and maple tree–an easy costume that we made out of clothes and supplies we already had at home. Plus, we had fun making it together! We saved the leaf decorations and recycled the cardboard box that made the tree when Halloween was over.
Buy a Costume
Thrift stores such as Goodwill are a great place to find items that complement a homemade costume.
If you must buy new, my suggestion is to buy something “classic,” that you know you’ll want to wear in future years.
For kids, I’d suggest buying a costume that you know they’ll wear year-round! Many kids like to dress up outside of Halloween, and this way, their costume can do double duty. If your child has younger siblings, hold onto their costume for next year, and it might get some reuse that way as well.
2. buy healthier candy
Traditional candy brands may be tasty, but their ingredients are kinda junky. Look at the label closely, and you’ll probably find palm oil (not a sustainable option unless it’s RSPO Certified Sustainable), refined sugars, corn oil, fillers, gums, flavors, and artificial coloring. Unreal makes some better-for-you and amazing-tasting replacements for some common candy favorites, like these Unreal Dark Chocolate Caramel Peanut Nougat Bars, which are similar to Snickers. The bags are definitely smaller than bulk bags of traditional candy, and they can be pricy. Consider adding some of these to your mix. Try their Dark Chocolate Coconut Bars, or their Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups!
3. recycle your candy wrappers with terracycle
Single serving candy inherently produces more waste than bulk snacks. But in the interest of safety, you can’t avoid this entirely if you want to hand out candy or go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. My suggestion is to limit what you purchase and consume, and to recycle the wrappers with Terracycle!
The reason these wrappers aren’t recyclable via store drop off or curbside bins is that they’re typically multi-layer, that is, a layer of plastic and aluminum foil. Terracycle can pull these layers apart and effectively recycle them. To make an impact beyond Halloween night, try the Kitchen Separation Box, which not only accepts snack wrappers, but also accepts many other common household items that you otherwise can’t recycle.
4. avoid disposable decorations and reuse the ones you have
Like costumes, Halloween decorations tend to be plastic-based, and often single use. Instead of purchasing disposable, plastic decorations (like spider webs or gel clings), consider reusable, or organic decorations. Think pumpkins and gourds (just compost them, see #5!), cut out paper bats or stars, or reuse string lights. Did you buy a pumpkin carving kit? Make sure you save it for next year, too!
5. compost your pumpkin and roast the seeds!
Have a safe, spooky, and sustainable Halloween!
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a small commission if you make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This income goes to supporting this website. As always, ideas and opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.
