Boo! What’s the scariest thing at this time of year? The inevitable consumerism that comes at Halloween. What could be scarier than the consumerism we are bombarded with by every shop, advert and Instagram post? With an estimated 50% of the UK spending money on Halloween, or 85% if we look at parents with children under 5 years old, the impact of Halloween is growing. So, what better time to talk about the impact of Halloween on the environment?
Halloween Costumes
I love dressing up – my previous Halloween costumes have been skeletons, vampires and cats to name a few. However, bought Halloween costumes are often full of plastic and are churned out rapidly to be sold in large numbers. An examination of 300 clothing lines sold by 19 different retailers in the UK found that 83% of the material found in the costumes we’ve come to love contained an oil-based plastic like polyester. In 2017, 33 million people dressed up for Halloween, but 40% of these costumes were only worn once. So, putting these two statistics together, that’s a lot of plastic based waste potentially going to landfill. In fact, 7 million costumes are thrown away each year, with a tiny proportion being recycled. So, if you’re thinking of buying a costume this year, consider using one you’ve already got, make your own or buy one from a charity shop or second-hand shop.
Halloween Decorations
The days after Halloween are a nightmare for the waste industry, because difficult-to-recycle items, often plastic, appear in our recycling and landfill. We’re talking devil horns, plastic spiders webs, plastic pumpkins, lights, batteries, witches hats etc. A lot of this plastic is cheaply produced, because it is designed to be thrown away quickly. The majority of batteries used in Halloween toys and decorations end up in landfill. Pumpkins, as I’ll talk about in a minute, are a great alternative because you can eat them after using them as a decoration, but the first thing I’d say is to just use what you already have!
Halloween Sweets
Sweet wrappers are very difficult to recycle because they’re made of low quality plastic, so they mostly end up in landfill. However, Terracycle has a confectionery packaging programme, so there are some options if you need them. Obviously, it’s harder to do sweets zero waste if you want to be Covid-19 conscious, as zero or low waste options are often not packaged. However, paper wrapped chocolate is a great option, or if you’re only giving out sweets to a select few people in your household, there are lots of zero waste bulk options at local zero waste shops.
Pumpkin Waste
10 million pumpkins are grown in the UK each year, and 95% of these are used at Halloween and are then thrown away. 25% of pumpkins are thrown in the bin, 19% are composted, 20% goes to food waste, and 33% is cooked. Part of the reason people throw pumpkin away may be because people are not aware that you can eat pumpkin – only 42% of British adults surveyed by Hubbub knew that pumpkin was edible. This demand is expected to rise by 15% this year because Halloween last year was quite low key due to Covid-19 restrictions. And yet, pumpkin is not only seasonal but really easy to cook with. Pumpkin is super versatile too – it can be used for sweet and savoury dishes. So, if you’re getting pumpkins this year, then remember to make them into something tasty!
So, don’t buy into the consumerism that comes with Halloween – we don’t need stuff to be spooky!
Waste Makes Waste 