CLEVELAND — Halloween is full of candy, costumes and decorations. It's also full of plastic, most of it single-use plastic, but there are ways to avoid it. 

What You Need To Know

  • Halloween is here! 

  • From costumes to candy to decorations, the holiday is full of single-use plastic

  • Here are some tips to help you make your Halloween celebrations fun and spooky without contributing to the mountain of single-use plastic pollution

“There definitely are ways to get around waste and single-use plastics; they just require a little forethought,” said Eve Fox, the digital director of Beyond Plastics, a nationwide project with a mission to end plastic pollution everywhere. 

She said you can still have fun in an environmentally friendly way. Starting with decorations, Fox said you don’t have to buy big displays.

“You can go visit a local farm, or you can just, I think most grocery stores have pumpkins, they have hay, they have heritage corn, they're all these things that you can use to celebrate that,” Fox said. “You don't have to buy things that are made out of plastic. There are really beautiful, tasteful, affordable ways to decorate your home that are very light on the planet and, you know, totally seasonally appropriate.”

For costumes, Fox said try to plan ahead. You can make your own costume, wear a hand-me-down or borrow from your neighbors.

“Rather than rushing out to one of those stores that pop up right before the holiday that are like a big box store,” Fox said. “All those costumes, pretty sure ... I mean I haven't done extensive research ... but they're made out of polyester and other synthetics. And for the most part, they're cheaply made, so they don't get worn a lot. Usually, it's just once. One thing you can do is go to thrift shops.”

And last but not least, the trickiest, all puns intended, place to avoid single-use plastic is candy. Her recommendation is to buy candy in bulk.

“They may have things like M&M's or the health-food equivalent of M&M's,” Fox said. “They may have things like yogurt balls, chocolate-covered pretzels. There's lots of licorice, there’s lots of jelly beans, candy corn.”

She said you can also seek candy wrapped in foil or cardboard like Junior Mints or Milk Duds. Or if you’re feeling generous, give out money.

“You could also give out money, this is a totally non-candy option,” Fox said. “You could partner with a local business in your town or neighborhood and give out gift certificates.”

She said we live in a culture of convenience and being aware of our consumption is the first step in creating change. 

“We're just used to things being used once and then thrown away or potentially recycled, and that is very hard on our environment,” Fox said. “It uses a lot of resources. A lot of money goes into dealing with that waste. A lot of climate emissions are generated through using things just once.”

She said small changes can lead to big ones such as the way you approach grocery shopping or clothes shopping. She said we all have to start somewhere, so if you can’t do it this year, she said try next. 

“We're just in the habit of feeling like there are no consequences to using something once or for a very short while and then getting rid of it, and there are consequences,” Fox said. “This is a subtle, not hugely important shift, but a good place to start. And it can then have some nice ripple effects where if you do have children that you're celebrating the holidays with, you can start to raise awareness for them around these issues, because realistically, they are the ones who are going to be inheriting these problems unless we make some shifts in how we approach consumption.”

For more information on Beyond Plastics, visit here.