Halloween brings great fun and amazing memories year after year. But when the party is over and Trick or Treating is done, you’ll find piles of trash at curbs all over your neighborhood – and all across our country.
This year, by participating in TerraCycle’s programs, you can significantly reduce the waste your family generates this Halloween. These programs are super easy to participate in – just a little effort on your part can make a huge difference for our planet!
So here are some TRICKS you can use to TREAT yourself to a more sustainable Halloween this year!
1. REDUCE! You can greatly reduce the scary amount of waste generated towards the holiday months by participating in TerraCycle’s National Recycling Programs. These programs are FREE, national ways to recycle typically hard-to-recycle items from food and snack packaging, cosmetics items, toys, pens – even the water filters hydrating the Halloween hustle!
2. REUSE! Last year’s decorations, parts of previous costume, and even items around the house can be creatively reused (or, upcycled) to transform your Halloween digs into something supernatural! Check out this blog of fun Halloween DIY projects for items collected through our free programs, and this extra spooky lantern using Entenmann’s Little Bites® snacks pouches (and recycle the scraps using our free recycling program!):
Looking for a more sustainable way to party? Loop is now available nationwide! Shop at loopstore.com and receive your first order of snacks, mixers, or household cleaners for the Monster Mash aftermath in durable, refillable packages that are spookily superior to throwing things in the trash.
3. RECYCLE! Many of the products we use on a daily basis are not accepted in your curbside recycling program. But TerraCycle has a TRICK for that – Zero Waste Boxes! Use these to collect plastic packaging, kitchen products, fabrics and clothing, beauty products and packaging and many more – including those Candy and Snack Wrappers from Trick or Treating!
Photo by Ella Hommel on Unsplash
4. RESOLVE! If you are going out this All Hallow’s Eve, use your passion for recycling to help reduce litter in your community. Safely suit and mask up for a socially distanced neighborhood cleanup, and focus on things like cigarettes, which are one of the biggest sources of litter in the world, to help us reach our goal of 500 million butts collected by 2025.
Every pound of cigarette butts you send us donates $1 to our partners at Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization focusing on litter prevention for a less scary future.
5. REVIEW! As the holiday season kicks off when Halloween dies down, one of the most sustainable, environmentally friendly things you can do is review the things you bought, recycled, upcycled, and reused in 2020, and use this insight to go into year-end shopping with a clear head and a resolve to buy less.
But don’t let your not-so-eco actions haunt you, and make sure you remember all the amazing ways you helped the environment this year by driving less, not flying, staying home, and otherwise reducing your impact! Check out our blog for inspiration in the year ahead.
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This year, when so many things are different, don’t settle for a “normal” Halloween. Make this Halloween more sustainable and environmentally-friendly than ever before.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN from TerraCycle!