Halloween to Hallogreen!
Halloween to Hallowgreen…our tips on how to avoid plastic waste this holiday.
Halloween is only a few days away, and amid preparations for fright night, we thought we'd share some tips and tricks (or treats!) on how to avoid the huge amount of waste that is produced at this time every year. Plastic wrapped sweets, plastic costumes and plastic decorations are just a few of the things we can switch out for many other environmentally friendly alternative to ensure our environment doesn’t take the hit for our celebrations. Let’s make sure single-use plastic is kept off the list of scares this Halloween.
Tip 1: Use as many natural products as possible
Ditch those plastic pumpkins for real ones, or try some apple bobbing for a fun filled party idea. You could even repurpose old mason jars or wine bottles for some sinister lighting and painted pine cones and conkers for decorations. Making your own decorations means getting creative and having fun activities to do with the younger members of the household or your friends.
Tip 2: Be creative with costumes
A recent report form the Fairyland Trust found 83% of Halloween costumes are plastic … and that 7 million Halloween costumes are thrown away each year…….WHAT!!!. So instead of buying new costumes, spruce up your old ones from previous years or swap with friends (in a Covid friendly way) to jazz it up a bit! You could also repurpose old clothes with some fake blood and scissors, or have a dig through the fancy dress box and make some alterations…...maybe a killer pirate or an undead princess?!
Tip 3: Get cooking with your pumpkins!
Depending on the pumpkin you buy, many are suitable for eating and taste delicious in a soup or a pumpkin pie. There are a multitude of great recipes online so you don’t waste that pumpkin flesh after some carving. You can also smash it up and put it in your food waste caddy which is picked up by the council. Alternatively, you could drop them at ‘Little Roadway Farm’ and they will feed them to her pigs. Check out the Pumpkin Rescue page at Recycle Devon for more ideas.
Tip 4: Plastic Free Treats. For some plastic free treats go to your local pick and mix stand to select unwrapped goodies, make your own, like mini rocky roads or brownies or get creative with what you have at home to make scary food on a plate - banana ghosts, bat fruit skewers, bloody fingers etc etc. There are so many ideas online.
We hope these tips come in useful, feel free to send us pictures of your plastic free Halloween through our socials and finally… Happy Halloween!