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A Green Halloween

While planning your Halloween celebration with friends and relatives this year, consider your environmental impact, too. By choosing your costume, treats and decorations carefully, you can reduce environmental impacts from manufacturing, transportation, use and disposal. Establishing new traditions and bringing back some very simple practices from the past can save money as well as help the environment.

Costumes
•Make costumes from objects found around the house or visit a thrift store to find fun outfits and accessories.
•Try a costume swap with relatives, neighbors and friends.
•Rent a costume from a local costume store.
•Avoid plastic Halloween costumes that contain soft vinyl materials, which may present a health hazard.

Decorations
•Buy local pumpkins and use soy candles, which burn cleaner than regular wax candles, to light the carved jack-o-lanterns.
•Decorate with objects found in nature or make your own out of recycled materials. Be creative!
•Use old sheets to create scary ghosts.
•Stuff old shirts and pants with newspaper to create a scarecrow or ghoul.
•Take pumpkins and all-natural decor to the compost pile and return them to nature.
•Store and re-use non-perishable decorations year after year.

Trick or Treat
•Instead of driving house to house, host a party for your neighborhood or see if your town or city offers an alternative event.
•Walk from house to house if possible. If driving, find a central location to park and walk from there. If you wait in the car for your little goblin, turn the engine off. Idling wastes gas and pollutes the air.
•Avoid purchasing single use treat bags. They are a waste of money and often end up in the garbage. Have the kids carry re-usable tote bags, old pillowcases, or even their favorite backpack instead.
•Serve organic or “fair trade” treats if available in your area. A simple internet search can give you some ideas.
•Have a treat swap with friends to avoid throwing candy away.

There are many ways to celebrate this holiday while keeping the environment in mind. It might take a little more creativity, but it’s worth it!

October 2010 issue of GREENWorks, Ideas for a Cleaner Environment
A publication of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, Concord, NH (603) 271-3710