Spooky season is officially upon us with Halloween just around the corner, which in today’s modern world is one of the most popular holidays to celebrate. With shops offering Halloween-themed goods including pumpkins, costumes and novelty items, businesses often host Halloween events! Whilst for many Halloween is filled with gorge-worthy sweets, creepy costumes and spooky decorations – for us, the scariest part about it is the excessive amounts of waste this holiday produces!
Creepy Costumes
Halloween wouldn’t be the same without a sea of spooky characters, from ghosts and ghouls to witches and vampires – even a werewolf or zombie, dressing up in your scariest outfit is a huge part of the Halloween fun, whether it is for Trick or Treating or a spooktacular party! But did you know that 83% of these costumes are non-recyclable, and if thrown away will produce 2000 tonnes of plastic waste – which can take anywhere between 20 to 2000 years to decompose? Textile waste is ever on the rise, and with many Halloween costumes having such a short life-span, they sadly end up being within this growing statistic!
So what’s the solution? Using your costume more than once will help greatly, whether this is saving the outfit for the following year’s festivities, or handing it over to a friend or family member. You could extend this further to a wider audience by recycling the outfit. Charity Shops are the ideal place to re-purpose your pre-loved clothes, especially those short-lived Halloween costumes, that may have only been worn once! Charity and second-hand shops are not only handy for resourcefully disposing of the outfits, but also for creating a sustainable purchase! When shopping for your spooky attire this year, why not hit the second-hand shops before the supermarkets and up-cycle a pre-loved costume, not only does this help the planet but you could also save yourself money by finding a bargain at at much-reduced cost than buying brand new. Feeling creative? Why not go old school and make your own outfit from some old clothing or sheets? An old bed-sheet would make the perfect ghost costume, or find some old holey shirts, and dress up as a zombie – re-use what you have and create a unique costume that no one else will have!
Petrifying Pumpkins!
It wouldn’t be Halloween without our favourite spooky vegetable, the pumpkin! Homegrown, hand picked or shop bought, carving pumpkins ready for October 31st is a staple in households across the globe – but aside from the designs, what is so scary about a Pumpkin? That would be the excessive amount of waste that they produce. A HUBBUB study shows that the UK purchases just shy of 40 million pumpkins every year, and yet 22.2 million will go to waste – the most alarming part about this is that almost all of this 22.2 million is edible food simply being left to rot. If that isn’t shocking enough, a pumpkin that ends up in landfill will decompose and release methane which has 20 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide.
Whilst carving your pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern has become somewhat of a Halloween tradition, it is what we do with the pumpkin during and after carving that piques our interest. Aside from the stork – every part of the pumpkin is edible, including the seeds, the flesh and even the skin! Here are a few ways to make the most out of your pumpkin:
- Seeds – As well as saving the seeds to grow your own for next year’s pumpkin patch, you can also leave them to dry for a week or 2, and then dust them with your favourite herbs or spices (paprika is always a good shout), add a splash of oil and roast them to perfection. Allowing for an ideal light snack, low in calories and low in carbon emissions!
- The pulp – the ‘stringy, wet’ part of the pumpkin is often the first to be thrown away, but this time we encourage you to keep it and create a tasty paste or puree along with some delicious seasoning to add to any pasta, pie or savoury dish of your choice!
- The Flesh – grab your spoon and scoop out the inside of the pumpkin, grabbing the ‘firmer’ lighter coloured flesh from the inside of your gourd – this is the good stuff, it is perfect to simmer down into soups, pumpkin pies or even cakes!
- The Skin – finally we have the skin, great for roasting and creating a tasty snack like salted pumpkin chips, an alternative to sweet potato chips – or even dry them out and roast to great pumpkin skin crisps, a different take on your mid-day potato crisps you have in your lunch box.
As for the stem, and anything else you may not have used – put this into your composter, organic waste or food waste bin!
Treater Waste!
Once the costumes are on and the office is buzzing with spooky treats, it’s time for the Halloween celebrations to begin! Office parties and leftover treats from trick-or-treating can bring lots of fun—and unfortunately, lots of waste. While the sweets are often enjoyed without issue, if there are leftovers, consider sharing them with coworkers or donating to a local food bank.
The real horror lies in the packaging! During October, the plastic wrappers from Halloween treats can contribute to up to 30% of all plastic packaging waste. If sent to landfill, the environmental impact is truly frightening! Make sure to recycle wherever possible and keep the office waste under control—let’s all do our part to make this season as sustainable as it is spooky.
If you need pedal, square, or swing bin liners to help manage the extra waste, contact us today, and we’ll help you keep your office clean and waste-free!
How can we reduce this waste? If you are the one who is handling the packaging, make sure you are always choosing the best end of life solution – this means recycle! For any cardboard packaging, this can go into your paper / card household bin, ready to be recycled during your waste collections, but for the plastic packaging, this is often a bit trickier as it is not (yet) recycled kerbside. However, so many local outlets now offer flexible plastic recycling points, so all you need to do is save up those gummy bear and lolly wrappers and take them to your nearest outlet on your next trip out – find out where you can take them on the Recycle Now website.
One way to reduce the packaging waste is to make some home baked goods for your trick-or-treaters! Halloween cookies are often a hit with your spooky audience, and will be a delicious change from sweets! You can even add a bit of your left over pumpkin inside and make some scrumptious pumpkin biscuits – 2 birds (or should we say bats) with 1 stone!
A Spooktacular Halloween
Whether your office is celebrating with spooky décor or a team pumpkin carving contest, make sure any waste you generate finds its way into the right bin. Keep the Halloween horrors limited to the costumes and snacks—not the waste! Let’s all do our part to keep the office tidy and resourceful. Happy Halloween, everyone!