It’s October. You know what that means: the spooky season is here. Halloween is approaching. People are out buying candy, and costumes and everyone is ready for the festivities. But there is one thing that passes through everyone’s mind, our environment. So here are some tips to Go Green for Halloween.

1.Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Instead of throwing away your costume from this year, save it and you can use it in your future costumes. You may even have a cousin or friend or little sibling you can hand it down to. This also will save you a lot of money over the years. Instead of buying costumes every year, you can reuse your favorite ones. 

2. Compost

We all always have pumpkin scraps and left over apple cores from caramel apples and apple pies. Instead of throwing them away, put them in a composter. Composters are very good for the environment. They turn old food scraps from plants and other exceptions, for example egg shells. This is perfect for your leftover pumpkin scraps. If you don’t have a composter or don’t want to buy/build one, don’t worry because Sea Cliff School has a composter and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind you pumpkin scraps.

3. Get Crafty

Old things that you have been endlessly hoarding around your house may finally have a use. And that old cardboard you have been saving up for your amazing homemade costume might finally come in handy. So get crafty, and make your own costume instead of buying one made in a factory.

4. Make your own candy or buy it organically

Buy candy made from natural ingredients, no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

Even consider giving out Halloween themed pencils and other toys, which will provide healthier options or make your own chocolates. It’s actually really easy to make. All you need is some melted chocolate, ice cube trays and some Halloween sprinkles. 

Pour the chocolate into the ice cube trays, top them with sprinkles and let cool. This will reduce waste and give you something to do on a cold rainy day.

5. Avoid Plastic

This might be one of the hardest parts of Halloween. We all know that candy wrappers are the hardest part of making your Halloween eco-friendly. But we will put that aside for now. Besides candy wrappers, we can make sure that our costumes and decorations are plastic free. For example, instead of buying fake plastic pumpkins you can purchase fresh pumpkins from a local farm that can really benefit from the few dollars you spend on those pumpkins. Also, instead of buying a plastic broom for your witch costume, make one out of sticks from a local park.

6. Buy Pumpkins Locally

Buying pumpkins helps support small businesses and local organizations. My family and I have always bought our pumpkins from the Methodist church up the street from the middle school. They have really good pumpkins, and we are supporting our community.

7. Considering Teracycle

Teracycle is a website where you can purchase a pouch, pallet, or box. It comes with a prepaid shipping label, and you can fill it with your Halloween candy wrappers and you can send it away to be recycled.