Reduce our Waste Halloween

Zero waste halloween: quite the oxymoron.  Bea Johnson,the priestess of zero waste, tells you to simply refuse the holiday.  But since my goal is to reduce my waste while still having fun, I decided that I would look for ways to partake with minimal impact on the environment.  My decorations have always been rather simple: a few pumpkins. black lanterns and some homemade painted signs.   I have a few plastic decorations that I have had for quite a while and I intend to keep and use them because I doubt anyone else would want 10 year old halloween decorations.

 

I have added a new sign this year:

On the candy front, things are a challenge.  99% of the options at the grocery store are packaged in plastic:

I have given up on traditional grocery stores as sources of “reduce our waste” options.  However, individually wrapped treats are a must.   I did some research and the conclusion across all the websites I read were that the best options were:

• Aluminum foil wrapped candy:  Aluminum is 100% recyclable and there are candy options using aluminum.  I found these at the bulk store:

There are also Hershey’s kisses that are wrapped in aluminum.  Obviously, I don’t know if kids (and their parents) will recycle the aluminum wrappers but these are definitely a better option than plastic.

• Carton wrapped candy: Carton also has a high degree of recyclability.  Smarties, Nerds, Milkduds. Popeye Candy sticks and Junior Mints can all be found in carton.   Another option is Sunkist raisins but my daughters insist that this is not candy and would be something they would “refuse”.  Unfortunately, my local bulk barn did not have any of these options available.  Consequently, I bought the aluminum wrapped chocolate for my trick or treaters.
• Fruit such as clementines, tangerines and apples are also suggested as giveaways but I think that this a questionable option from a safety option.  From a “fun” point of view, the response from my daughters was a simple: “Really?”

I think a better option are pencils and erasers.  Teachers always suggest pencils and erasers as gifts because children always need them.  If you receive pencils and don’t think that your child needs them, you can donate them to your child’s school.

On the costume front, there are certainly good options.  The third “R” (aka Reuse) is the obvious choice.

• Borrow:  There are places that rent costumes and you can certainly ask your friends and neighbors if there is something that you are looking for.
• Reuse old clothing or linens that you have and remake it into a costume:  I made a simple angel costume for my daughters using an old sheet.  We made and painted angel wings using cardboard that we painted white and glued on a few feathers.  We made a halo using aluminum foil.   I have had a costume bin in the basement for many years:

Last year, my daughter made a “social butterfly” costume using the pink wings in the preceding photo.   We had saved the wings from when she was younger and we reused them for her costume.  Creative idea, huh?

Thanks to other bloggers Kathryn Kellogg (Zero Waste Living Blog on Halloween) and Kay

Zero Waste Halloween: A Non-Scary Guide to Less Waste This Holiday

for their great advice.

Have a Happy “Reduce our Waste” Halloween everyone!

Challenge for the week:  How are you handling Halloween this year? Lights out or are you giving out candy or other treats?  Love to hear any sustainable ideas that you have found or developed yourself.