How can I be eco-friendly for Halloween?

Getting involved in the fun activities that each season has to offer is one of lifes greatest joys! With Halloween being one of the biggest celebrations in Autumn, it can be hard to know how to be sustainable whilst still being able to get involved in all the pumpkin fun – and we’re here to help.

 

Here are our 5 top tips for having a spookily sustainable Halloween this year!

 

1)  Make your own Halloween costume

There are some scary stats when it comes to the amount that is wasted during Halloween, One study estimated that around 2,000 tons of plastic waste is generated from disposable Halloween clothing in the UK alone.

The chances are, you have something in your wardrobe that you can turn into something spooktactular, there are also a plethora of DIY Halloween costume ideas that you can find at the click of a button (thank you internet) – we love this sustainable jungle in particular for eco-friendly ideas.

2)   Choose to reuse your Halloween décor

If you have decorated over previous years, dig out your old decorations before hitting the shops for new ones. Luckily, Halloween tends to follow the same theme every year, pumpkins, ghosts etc so there isn’t really a need to continuously repurchase new decorations.

Alternatively if this is your first year and you do want to decorate, purchase sustainably made Halloween crafted decorations, better still, support local artists and makers by purchasing from them. We love Etsy for being able to find really unique, sustainable and well-made decorations!

 

3)   Support local business and farmers and shop local for your pumpkins

Pumpkin picking is the ultimate Halloween activity, it gets you in the spooky spirit, you’re supporting your local farmer and you get to pick the perfect pumpkin!

 

 

4)   Reduce food waste by making delicious meals from your pumpkin

You can reduce food waste by preparing recipes with the inside of your pumpkin, BBC Good Foods have got you covered with a whopping 52 recipes and ideas of what you can make with a pumpkin – another great Halloween activity! 

 

5)   Go plastic free with your spooky sweets!

Whether you have little ones you take out trick or treating, or you have a big bowl of sweets at the door, or you simply like to eat Halloween themed sweets (no judgement here!), sadly a lot of sweets come in tiny plastic wrappers. Look out for plastic free alternatives, perhaps you could make up little brown bags of pick and mix sweets, or lots of chocolate come in paper and foil, do some investigating when your next in the supermarket and see what you can find!

 

So there we have it, our five top tips on how to have an eco-friendly Halloween, you can still enjoy some good old Pumpkin fun without it costing the planet!