Disposable decorations. Plastic wrapped sweeties. Polyester costumes you only wear once. Celebrating Halloween can have a sizeable impact on the planet, so how can we make Halloween green?

With the majority of costumes sold by popular retailers like Asda and Tesco made from oil-based non-biodegradable fibres like polyester, PVC, nylon and acrylic, the level of textile waste generated by Halloween contributes dramatically to the already staggering 300,000+ tonnes of clothing discarded in UK landfills. That’s scary enough for us!

 

 

Here are a few tips on how to have a sustainable Halloween this year:

 

1. Create costumes from scratch

It’s so much more fun to create costumes from scratch, so raid your wardrobes, head over to your local charity shops or even dust off your sewing machine to come up with something unique! Hiring, swapping, or borrowing Halloween costumes from a fancy-dress shop/friends and family is another great way of avoiding the waste of a single-use costume

 

2. Non-toxic

Use non-toxic, cruelty-free makeup, face paint and biodegradable glitter

 

3. Ditch the plastic

Ditch the plastic buckets and make reusable trick-or-treat bags out of old fabric: Visit honestly modern

 

4. Stay Local

Visit your local farm shops and greengrocers to find organic pumpkins - pesticides used in the farming process have a long-term detrimental effect on ecosystems

 

5. Avoid food waste

And whilst we’re on the topic, avoid food waste by turning leftover decorative pumpkins into delicious soups, curries and even cakes!

 

6. Reusable decorations

Hang reusable decorations like fabric banners, yarn webs, metal pumpkins etc. Pinterest has so many ideas for these!

 

7. Ethical

Stock up on ethical, palm oil-free and vegan sweet treats from places like OMGitsvegan and The Conscious Candy Co.

 

Have a Happy Halloween the Nomads way!