Going green for halloween

By Grace Downing, 2022

Published 10/28/21

The weather has started giving us goosebumps, and so has the season. As October comes to an end it means it's officially time for a spooky season. We get to carve pumpkins, drink warm drinks, and curl up for fall movies, with the excitement of a lock-down free Halloween. Besides for the scary monsters, Cheshire still has to fear COVID-19, which still ensures a different looking Halloween than normal. As we add staying safe to our Halloween bucket list, we always need to be working to have a more sustainable holiday this season. There are always ways to keep the planet healthy, and still have fun!

The biggest culprit for Halloween waste are costumes. Most become single-use and require lots of resources to be made, sometimes made of harmful materials, and can end up straight in landfills or as litter. Here are some ways we can avoid are fashionable costumes hurting the environment;

• Avoid plastics in your costumes AND decorations. Try more sustainable materials like natural cloth, wood, and metal.

• GO HOMEMADE. There is nothing better than a homemade costume that you can brag about. Today there are millions of instructions for DIY costumes online for crafters to use. Sometimes you even have the pieces of a costume in your closet that just need to be put together.

• Shop vintage- the coolest costumes can be found in local thrift stores or your parents old clothes in the boxes in your basement. Use parts of previous costumes or your friend's old one. Look for options to buy your costumes used- they work just the same!

Another great way to control your impact is by regulating your waste contribution through treats and decorations, and not spook Mother Nature.

• Purchase locally grown pumpkins. We can all enjoy the art of carving designs into gourds even more by just taking the extra step to lower our emissions and choosing local, organic pumpkins this season. Aftercare is important to- compost your pumpkins, save the seeds and roast them up, or incorporate the insides into yummy baking. Don’t let it end up in the garbage!

• Use reusable supplies. If it comes time to throw a party, get some spooky washable/ reusable/ recyclable dishware, and send your kids out with reusable buckets or pillowcases. Encourage your guests and friends to do the same!

• Lastly- DON’T LET YOUR KIDS LITTER. Candywrapper, Halloween environmental nightmare. It’s very easy for kids to reach into their bag in the midst of the chaos and unwrap and throw it on the ground. Estimates show about 600 million pounds of candy are purchased every year for Halloween. That’s a lot of wrappers. Once we get them off the ground, we also can think about recycling them so they don’t end up in landfills. There are many organizations that have begun taking candy wrappers and turning them into new items. Maybe even look up crafts you can do by yourself!

As we grow more aware every day of how we impact our planet, the big universal traditions like this are important to assess where we can change. Halloween is a great holiday full of creativity, thrill, and togetherness, and none of that has to change if we just do the little steps to lead a greener Halloween.