Halloween is just around the corner, with millions of children gearing up to put on their favorite costumes and flock to the streets for trick-or-treating. Spooky skeletons and glowing jack-o’-lanterns are adorning homes that have gone all out to celebrate a night of fright. But the truly scariest part of the holiday might just be the plastic waste left behind after the festivities end.
The environmental footprint of Halloween is staggering.
A 2019 study out of the UK found that 83% of materials used for Halloween costumes are made from non-recyclable plastic. “They’re basically destined for a landfill near you,” said Lexy Silverstein, sustainable fashion advocate. This year, US shoppers are anticipated to spend more than $11bn on candy, decorations, costumes, parties and pumpkins. Here are some ways to celebrate Halloween more sustainably.
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1. Shop your closet or a thrift store
When buying any piece of clothing, it can be worth asking yourself: how many times am I going to wear this item? Where am I going to wear it? And what am I going to wear it with?
These questions are harder to answer when it comes to buying a single-use Halloween costume that’s unlikely to be reworn another time. According to the Fashion Transparency Index, there are enough clothes in the world to dress the next six generations of people. Try finding a costume at a thrift store, and look out for clothes that you can rewear next Halloween or for regular occasions.
“I really challenge everyone this year to shop your own closet,” said Silverstein. For example, a regular white button-up shirt can be used for a multitude of costumes such as the titular character of movie classic Risky Business. A striped shirt, bobble hat and round glasses are all the components you need for a Where’s Waldo costume. And working with colors you already own in your closet, such as all green or head-to-toe pink, can go with a multitude of iconic characters such as Barbie and Glinda.
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2. DIY or borrow
Some of the most memorable Halloween costumes can be the ones created with your own hands, whether it’s cardboard butterfly wings or a jellyfish made out of an umbrella and some scrap materials. For parents of ever-growing children, making a simple cape can work for a princess, a superhero and a magician, among others. The best part: capes can be adjustable so they won’t grow out of them as quickly, lasting them several Halloweens.
Hosting a costume swap is another way to minimize buying single-use outfits. Is there a costume your friend wore that one time that you’re dying to recreate? You can ask to borrow it or swap for one of yours.
“Last year, my friend went as Padme and Anakin with her partner, and this year I’m going as Padme and Anakin with my partner,” said Silverstein. “I’m just repurposing her costume from last year and part of my costume is rented.”
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3. Try recreating a look with face makeup
A lot of mass-produced costumes found in UK stores are made with thin synthetic materials such as nylon. They may be cheap but they are also highly flammable. In the UK, Halloween costumes are classified as toys and are not required to be flame-resistant or flame-retardant, meaning they can potentially catch fire if exposed to an open flame, and can be hard to extinguish quickly. This very thing happened to the daughter of television presenter Claudia Winkleman in 2014. A recent assessment out of the UK of costumes for children under seven has found that more than 80% of tested costumes have failed basic safety tests for flammability and strangulation from cords.
In the US, thanks to the Flammable Fabrics Act, costumes sold at retail stores are required to be flame-resistant, but it doesn’t mean that the costume can’t burn, and it doesn’t solve all issues related to concerns about toxic chemicals found in Halloween costumes. Vinyl face masks can potentially expose people to heavy metals and ones made with flexible plastic are highly likely to contain phthalates.
Opting to recreate the mask through face-painting may seem like a better alternative, but many conventional face paints can contain lead, arsenic and mercury. Experts recommend using regular drugstore makeup and cosmetic-grade face paint, as they have stricter regulations.
And if you really want to know what goes into the products applied to your face, why not try some items found in kitchen cabinets? You can make fake blood from corn syrup, beet juice and cocoa powder.
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4. Ditch the cobwebs
It might be tempting to deck your front yard or stoop with fake spiderwebs this season. But these cotton-like cobwebs can be a death trap for wildlife. They’re often placed in trees and bushes and on windowsills, where birds and other small animals can get trapped in them, risking injury or death. Instead, window displays with a light-up LED web or a crocheted cobweb can be a safer and a more long-lasting alternative that can be reused in future decorations.
“Every time I see a fake spiderweb drawn onto a window that is thrilling to me, because it looks great, it celebrates the holiday spirit, but it also eliminates a threat to birds, which is window collisions,” said Dustin Partridge, director of conservation and science at New York City Bird Alliance. Millions of birds die each year due to window collisions, many of them during migration, which is happening right now. “Painted spiderwebs or stickers can block out a reflective window and that can actually save birds.”
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5. Turn pumpkins into soup
Each year, the US harvests about 2bn lbs of pumpkins to sell whole. One of the ways to utilize it for purposes beyond decor is using the flesh for soup and roasting up the seeds.
It might be tempting to make your carved pumpkin stand out by spraying it with hairspray or glitter, but that can limit the ways it can be repurposed once festivities end. “Avoid spraying down your pumpkins and find a good use for them afterward,” said Partridge.
After the celebrations are over, you might be wondering what to do with all the jack-o’-lanterns decking the halls of Halloween’s past. One satisfying way is to smash them up and compost them. Some zoos and farmers even accept them as feed for animals.
“So much of the concern of consumption is put on the consumer, but really the onus is on these corporations capitalizing on these holidays,” said Katrina Caspelich, chief marketing officer for Remake, a non-profit advocating against fast fashion. “They really just need to create less stuff. How many Halloween costumes do we need?”
Remember that it’s not all on you. Trying to reduce the footprint of this holiday can be hard when companies constantly churn out these single-use products. Halloween candy is one of the largest contributors to plastic waste.
“[We’re] focused on developing packaging that adheres to the highest standards for food safety while also being fully recyclable, compostable or reusable in order to reduce the environmental footprint of confectionery packaging,” said Carly Schildhaus of the National Confectioners Association. “There’s also a role for federal, state and local governments to play in repairing and advancing the nation’s broken recycling infrastructure, which cannot yet fully address flexible packaging.”
Some candy companies have been distributing collection bags to recycle the candy wrappers to turn into dog poo bags. But that only addresses a small part of the greater plastic problem from this holiday.