Reduce Halloween Waste, Avoid Recycling Horrors

Halloween waste can be even scarier than Halloween itself. When the trick and treating is all done, what you have left are mountains of candy wrappers, decorations, costumes, and food.

Around 600 million pounds of candy are purchased for Halloween, and about 12,500 tons of costumes are sent to landfills every year, according to Real Simple magazine.

Here’s a quick guide to what you can do to reduce Halloween waste.

Candy wrappers

24% of people think candy wrappers are recyclable, according to a survey by Republic Services. Unfortunately many wrappers are made of mixed materials and so should NOT go into your recycling bin. However, companies like TerraCycle do accept wrappers. As of 2024, TerraCycle says they have recycled nearly 20 million candy wrappers and snack packaging.

To reduce waste, look for candies with recyclable packaging (eg: cardboard), or companies that have programs like Takis, which offers free recycling through TerraCycle. Simply collect your empty Takis snack bags and then download a free shipping label.

Decorations

Reuse your decorations whenever possible.

If they reach the end of their life, make sure they are disposed of correctly. Note that string lights can get tangled in machines at the recycling facility so they should NOT go into your recycling bin. But you can contact your city’s municipal solid waste office or look for a mail-in recycling program. Inflatable nylon decorations are also difficult to recycle and should NOT go into your recycling bin. But the motors might be recycled as e-waste. Remember to remove any batteries before discarding decorations. Here’re more tips on recycling decorations.

Costumes

A 2019 survey by Fairyland Trust estimates that “…UK Halloween celebrations generate over 2000 tonnes of plastic waste from clothing and costumes alone. The investigation found that 83% of the material in 324 clothing items… was oil-based plastic.”

The truth is that most Halloween costumes cannot be recycled and end up in the landfill, along with items like latex masks. Costumes that are just fabric can usually be recycled with other textiles.

The best way to recycle costumes? Use or alter them for next year, engage in a costume swap, or donate them. Nonprofits  like ‘Ween Dream and The Sharing Shelf collect new and gently-used costumes and match them with children in need. Look for a local nonprofit in your area.

Or better yet, reduce scary Halloween waste by creating your costumes out of recyclable “waste”!

Pumpkins and other Food

It has been reported that an estimated 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins end up in the landfill each year. Food waste, including pumpkins, can usually be composted or should go into your organics bin. Check your recycling program for what foods are accepted.

But before you treat these food items as waste, consider donating quality, edible food to local nonprofits and organizations like Replate.  You can also leave leftover pumpkins in a corner of your garden for wildlife or, feed it to your pets (check with your vet first).

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Photo: David Menidrey, Unsplashed

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