The Ultimate Guide for A Sustainable Halloween

In 2024, the UK is expected to spend over £776 million on Halloween. But what does this ghoulish spending cost the planet?

It’s that spooky time of year again, when pumpkins line streets and fancy dress takes centre stage. As autumn settles in and the days get shorter, the UK startles to life every 31st October.

Halloween Waste Facts

Whether trick-or-treating or doing the monster mash, Halloween is a cause for celebration for many of us. Unfortunately, as with many celebrations, excess consumption leads to excess waste. In 2024, UK consumers are expected to spend over £776 million on Halloween, increasing sharply from £12 million in 2001, according to an article by the Guardian.

Moreover, around 58% of people in the UK are expected to make a Halloween-related purchase, with an average planned expenditure of £25 per individual. To expand on this, finder.com shared interesting visuals to break down these trends by region:

With this information in mind, it is needless to say that Halloween is widely celebrated throughout the UK. But did you know that many purchases during this holiday often come with an eco-scare?

Whether it’s this year’s costumes or decorative pumpkins, most items purchased will be thrown away before bonfire night, making Halloween one of the scariest days for our environment.

That’s why we have created our ultimate guide for a more sustainable Halloween, to help you spook away without harming our planet:

Pumpkins – Be Ahead of the Carve

Pumpkin carving is a fun and creative activity for you and your family to undertake this Halloween season. However, did you know that around 22 million pumpkins were estimated to have gone to waste in the UK in 2022 alone? This amounts to £32.6 million worth of edible food going to waste.

However, pumpkins can also be an asset to eco-friendly agriculture. They thrive in areas with limited water resources. Moreover, pumpkins can attract beneficial insects like bees and ladybugs, which can help to control pests in other plants.

Every part of the standard supermarket Halloween pumpkin is edible, apart from the stalk. Pumpkins are nutrient-dense, containing a lot of vitamins and minerals and relatively few calories. The pumpkin contains an abundance of vitamins A, C, and E, which boost your immune system.

Pumpkins are also known to be a superfood for dogs. They’re high in fibre and contain many important micronutrients, helping your pooch’s stomach, as a natural soother. If that’s not enough, pumpkins aid in the removal of excess water from a dog’s digestive tract.

What To Do with Pumpkins After Halloween

When hollowing out your jack-o-lantern this Halloween, think twice before throwing away the flesh. To help you prepare your sustainable Halloween pumpkin meal, check out our list of delicious recipes.

Pumpkin Recycling

Alternatively, if you’re a business, sustainable waste managers like Bywaters can collect excess food waste from vegetables such as pumpkins. Through our advanced recycling network, we can find sustainable solutions for your pumpkin waste, sending them to specialised experts that make the most of these leftovers, to sustainably create valuable resources such as fertiliser and biogas.

To improve the public’s knowledge of UK food recycling, we also wrote a comprehensive article on how food waste is handled.

Costumes – Look Sustainably Fa-boo-lous

According to Hubbub, an estimated 39 million Brits dressed up for Halloween. Unsurprisingly, an estimated 7 million costumes are thrown away every year, contributing to a scary 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste. Some estimates often equate this figure to throwing away 83 million plastic bottles.

Halloween costumes are generally made from polyester and oil-based fabric, to be cheaply manufactured to supply the booming demand for the season. Shockingly, 40% of Halloween costumes are only worn once, with 90% of households admitting to buying a new costume every year.

According to a survey conducted by the UK charity Fairyland Trust, in 2019, plastic accounted for 83% of the material used in Halloween costumes. The study included 19 major retailers and recorded details of 324 items. Moreover, a 2021 update on the study found that 74% of costumes were made from polyester alone – suggesting that not enough has changed since.

Sustainable Halloween Costumes

This year, why not make your own sustainable Halloween costume, to avoid contributing to the mountains of waste produced this time of year…

Halloween Costume Ideas

Use your old white bed sheets and cut two eye holes to create a ghost costume. Of course, this example is straightforward, so indulge in your imagination and make something spectacular.

Another way of reusing your old clothes is to dress up as iconic characters like ‘Harry Potter,’ who have instantly recognisable aesthetics but can also be created from what you currently have in your wardrobe.

You don’t have to bring your clothes back to life, you can resurrect someone else’s back from the dead. Charity shops, such as traid, are a treasure chest, opening up a world of costume possibilities. If you’re lucky, you could even buy someone else’s old Halloween costume. If you can’t find anything you like, you could try a costume swap or borrow from family or friends. Saving you a quid and saving the planet.

Hosting A Fang-tastic Sustainable Halloween Party

Celebrations are always a large part of Halloween, with large sums spent on home decorations for ghoulish Halloween parties every year. Having said this, it is important to be mindful of the large amount of waste that’s being produced.

It’s easy to buy single-use items, especially when cleaning up. However, with some consideration, your party can be just as terrifying whilst reducing your impact on the environment. Instead of buying mass-produced decorations, you can create your Halloween decor using old materials found in the house. Whether using old paper to create garlands or using milk bottles to make ghost lanterns, your creativity is limitless!

Sustainable Party Bag Ideas

Whether it’s candy wrappers or disposable cups, when hosting your Halloween party, avoid single-use plastic. According to a report by the UN Environment Programme, the world produced more than 400 million tonnes of plastics in 2015, and the largest industrial sector for this is plastic packaging designed as single-use material, comprising 36% of total plastic production.

Where possible use reusable items, however, if you must use disposable items there are many alternatives out there, there are many plastic-free sweets that help tackle this issue. Moreover, sustainable solutions such as Stroodles edible Eco-ware are 100% biodegradable utentils and good for the planet. And you can even munch on them after use, as they are all edible.

Halloween doesn’t need to produce a frighteningly large amount of waste. You can still have a “bloody” good time, whilst considering your environmental footprint. Simple changes can have a massive impact, so why not try something different this year?

Halloween Recycling

We’ve been scaring waste away for years – Our team of recycling experts have mastered the art of turning frightful waste into something sustainable. Whether you’re dealing with pumpkin guts, costumes, or leftover candy wrappers, we’ve got the spell to turn them into sustainable resources.

Contact us today to discover our recycling solutions and help make this Halloween a spooktacular success for the planet.