By Emma Moneuse
Halloween is just around the corner, as it is every year. While Holidays are full of excitement and celebration, they sometimes bring overconsumption, waste, and potentially harmful environmental side effects. Although, there are plenty of ways to change that and make this Halloween a lot easier on the planet.
Ever wonder how to dispose of or put your leftover carvings or rotting pumpkins to good use?
Compost!
If you have a composting setup, your pumpkins can be added into compost and used to fertilize your yard, flowers, indoor plants! If yo don’t compost, but want to find a service to come
pick up your bin of food waste, click here to find out if there is a service near you.
Give them back to nature.
Pumpkins are a natural, biodegradable fruit that can be given back to wildlife as food. Whatever animals don’t eat will break down into soil. If you live near woods or a swamp, crack open your pumpkin and let the critters feast on your creepy creation!
Donate to farmers.
Farmers and rescue sanctuaries typically require a lot of food for their animals. Contact your local farm or farm animal rescue and see if they want to take your old pumpkins to feed their animals.
Make a yummy snack! Easy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Roasted Pumpkin Seed Hummus Pumpkin Ravioli (purée the guts to make your own pumpkin purée)
While it’s more than okay to indulge in some sweets this Halloween, there are ways to make this tradition not only easier on your gut, but easier on the planet too.
Avoid Palm Oil
Unfortunately, palm oil is used in nearly 50% of all packaged food products, but this vegetable oil inflicts grave harm on the environment. Palm oil is one of the top drivers of deforestation across the world as it comes from the fruit oil of palm trees. It has caused destruction to habitats in some of the globe’s most diverse forests and caused the release of harmful greenhouse gases from soils.
So when stocking up on treats this year, check the ingredients list. Some goodies that don’t contain palm oil include:
Some red licorice, fruit roll ups, or fruit strips.
Tangerines or mandarin oranges.
Some chewing gums.
Temporary tattoos.
Pencils & erasers.
Goldfish.
Veggie chips.
Buy candy with sustainable packaging
To reduce waste, some treats or snacks come in less harmful packaging than the usual plastic wrapper.
Foil wrapped chocolates, small amounts of foil can be recycled!
Cardboard boxed candies such as Milk Duds, Dots, Raisins, Nerds, etc.
Eco-Friendly Candy Brands
Halloween happens literally every year, that means there are endless pre-worn costumes existing in the world. Instead of buying something new this year, consider wearing a used costume. Either borrow from a friend, check Facebook Marketplace, or buy secondhand from a thrift shop!
Or if you’re the creative type— come up with a plan and explore the thrift store to see if you can find some pieces to turn into a costume. Find some tips below from some of our thrift #UNLITTER members.
There’s no reason to buy new when there are so many possibilities out there…
If you #UNLITTERYOURHALLOWEEN this year, tag us in a post @unlitter. Oh, and have some fun!