As consumers browsed the Halloween aisles of their favorite stores this fall, many may not have realized how much of what surrounded them could end up in landfills after the holiday.
“Most [candy] wrappers are garbage, unless they’re paper …,” said Alexa Goodman, sustainability manager at Dalhousie University’s Office of Sustainability. “Not to mention that most treats and most mass-produced chocolates are considered unsustainable, as they utilize palm oil, which is driving deforestation in many parts of the world.”
Halloween in the United States generates significant amounts of waste each year, including one billion pounds of pumpkin waste, about 2,000 tons of plastic waste from costumes and decorations and billions of nonrecyclable candy wrappers.
“It’s important to think about the energy, water [and] materials that go into the production of goods like costumes and candy and decorations,” Goodman said.
According to Dr. Jadrian Wooten, collegiate associate professor of economics at Virginia Tech, about 66 percent of Americans say that they plan on giving out candy this Halloween.
Consumers are expected to spend $3.9 billion on candy this Halloween, in addition to $4.3 billion on costumes and $4.2 billion on decorations, Wooten said.
Halloween spending can be influenced by conspicuous consumption.
“Conspicuous consumption would be something like buying full-size candy bars because you want to show off that you’re the rich house that can give out the full-size candy bars,” Wooten said.
According to Dr. Mary Arends-Kuenning, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, there is always an element of keeping up with neighbors, because when consumers see spectacular decorations, they feel like they should put some things up too.
Behaviors influenced by conspicuous consumption can lead to further waste when consumers constantly purchase new Halloween products.
The biggest impact you can make to celebrate Halloween more sustainably is reducing waste by reusing items, using natural materials and minimizing consumption around the holidays, Goodman said.
Reusable items such as bed sheets, glass jars and candles can be used to create homemade costumes and decorations.
“We have lots of thrift stores, lots of secondhand stores that have Halloween gifts and costumes,” said Wooten.“Andso you can go out and sort of repurpose and create things more sustainably.”
Buying Halloween products secondhand is not the only way to shop sustainably.
If consumers do choose to purchase store-bought decorations, they should try to buy items that are not single-use and will last for years to come, Goodman said.
“In terms of waste reduction and recycling, look for items with minimal packaging, paper packaging, which is recyclable, and buy in bulk,” said Goodman.“Most treats are wrapped in single-use plastics … which are not recyclable.”
According to Arends-Kuenning, consumers have a lot of power in pressuring companies to switch to more sustainable packaging, as they can write to companies or demonstrate a willingness to spend more on the same products that use biodegradable materials instead.
“We could think about making [candy wrappers from] materials that are more biodegradable,” said Arends-Kuenning. “So, for example, making it out of cornstarch or making it out of other plant-based materials that would be more biodegradable.”
According to Goodman, making environmentally conscious decisions is not just about Halloween but rather about adopting a mindset that values sustainability in every aspect of life.
“By making informed choices and encouraging our communities, we can create a ripple effect that transformsHalloween into a time of fun and environmental change,” Goodman said.