Events like Halloween can be a very wasteful time. During Halloween, you might create over a pound of trash overnight, and other popular occasions can have all kinds of waste that we do not really think about.
Whether you are worried about the environment or just want to be careful with how much you are throwing away, there are some methods to help cut down how much you are producing. No matter the season or the occasion, it is always good to take care of your planet.
Re-Use Costumes
Costumes can be one of the biggest sources of waste during special occasions, with Halloween being a big part of that. Even if you are keeping the costume itself, you are probably throwing away the packaging – and if everybody does it, that is a lot of plastic wasted.
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Instead, try to re-use your costumes. If you do not want to repeat one from last year, start updating it with extra details or new items of clothing. No costume is so valuable that you can’t afford to modify them with a few cuts and added parts.
Do not be afraid to keep costumes to use as decorations during the right season, too. A creepy Halloween mask can be a nice wall decoration, meaning that you do not have to throw it away, and you can fill an empty space.
Use Eco-Friendly Bags
Bags can be important for most celebrations, especially Halloween and Christmas. If you do not have any lying around that you can re-use, then try to buy eco-friendly bags and paper – ones that can decompose properly.
This is important since plastic bags are often going to get thrown away or left at the side of a road. These do not always break down and can be incredibly dangerous for any animals that accidentally get snagged in the handles or trapped inside the plastic bag itself.
Ideally, you want to avoid throwing away bags anyway since they can be an incredibly useful thing to keep around. However, if you are going to, at least make them eco-friendly to minimize your environmental impact.
Avoid Disposable Decorations
Decorating your home to suit the occasion can be very fun, but you also need to consider what you are decorating it with. A lot of non-recyclable plastics are used in short-term decorations, and some are designed to be disposed of.
If they are not made of biodegradable materials, then a lot of your decorations can simply end up thrown away. Sticking with something that you can re-use over and over again can save money and cut down on how much waste you are producing.
For example, you might have a plastic window sticker that you like but which will eventually lose its stickiness. A plastic skeleton might be more expensive at first, but you can keep hanging it up by the window long after the sticker has stopped adhering to the glass.
Dispose of Food Properly
Pumpkins are one of the most popular foods to see on Halloween, but they are also hard to get rid of once they start to rot. While you might just want to leave one outside, that is a waste of food, and they can also release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in larger numbers.
Instead, try to eat up as much as you can or get rid of it in other ways. Composing them is another common option, allowing other plants to grow faster as the pumpkin decomposes. You could even leave the pumpkin in your garden for wild animals to nibble on.
Do not be afraid to chop up and freeze your pumpkin, too. Cutting it up will make it a lot easier to store, and you can freeze it for a long time, keeping it fresh for later.
Think About Your Treats
One of the most common mistakes that people make on Halloween (or any other occasion that involves a lot of food) is over-buying treats or making meals that are too large. If you buy something that nobody is going to eat, then you are wasting it – and its packaging.
Things like canned drinks and foods are easier to rely on since the cans are recyclable. Buying candy in bulk also works, as does anything that comes in cardboard casing.
Buying a lot of small, individually-wrapped sweets just creates a situation where most of the packaging is going to be thrown away, no matter whether the candy gets eaten or not. This might not seem like much, but it can add up when every family is doing the same thing.
Disposing of Waste
There will always be waste at the end of a night-long celebration, but disposing of it properly can help reduce how much waste you are actually creating. A lot of materials can actually be donated or re-used in ways that you might not expect.
For example, a lot of plastic drinks bottles can be recycled – check the packaging to see if they are accepted. Many people throw these away because they assume that the plastic can’t be recycled.
Some waste has to be disposed of normally, and that is always okay, but minimizing how much you end up tossing is always a good thing. Be sure to look through your waste to find anything that can be re-used, especially plastic containers that might be handy around the house.
If you are focused on cutting down your waste and protecting the environment however you can, then take stock of what you are actually throwing away. Some things can be recycled, some can’t, and many can be reused in creative ways or niche projects.
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