Halloween is right around the corner, and millions of Americans are stocking up on candy, hanging up fake cobwebs, and putting the finishing touches on the costumes they’ve been thinking about all year. But with all of the Halloween fun comes Halloween waste. In 2013, Americans bought over 598 million pounds of candy, and over 1 billion pounds of pumpkins. Halloween costumes are often bought and only used once, and with 10% of the world’s carbon impact coming from the textile industry, this waste is nothing to laugh about.
When finalizing your Halloween preparations this year, be sure to keep the following tips in mind. Because while Halloween should be scary, it shouldn’t be frighteningly unsustainable.
- Support local farms
When purchasing your pumpkins, stick to local farms. If you’re getting your pumpkin from a grocery store, it’s probably been shipped across the country. By buying local, you’ll help cut back on carbon emissions that would be produced during shipping, and you’ll be supporting your local agriculture.
- Reuse costumes
Just because you don’t want to repeat a costume doesn’t mean you can’t reuse it. Swap costumes with a friend, or do your costume shopping at a store like Savers. Not only is this more sustainable, but it will also help you save money.
- Make your own decorations
Decorations are half the fun of Halloween, so don’t worry, you don’t have to ditch them. But instead of buying synthetic cobwebs that you’ll have to throw away once you take them down, try making your own decorations at home. You can stuff the bottoms of old plastic bags with leaves, tie off the ends, and flip it upside down to make a ghost. Or use old milk jugs to make light up ghouls.
- Don’t throw out your candy wrappers
As weird as this one sounds, I promise I’m not advocating that you just leave old candy wrappers lying around your house. But instead of throwing them out, gather them up and send them Terracycle, where they can be made into things like park benches and backpacks.
Written by Ciara McGillivray, Class of 2018
Source: https://asunow.asu.edu/content/10-ways-make-your-halloween-sustainable
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halloween-graveyard.gif