RIP plastic pumpkins: simple tricks for a greener Halloween

It may horrify some but Halloween’s popularity continues to grow in Australia, with one in five embracing the spooky spirit. The annual festival has become a multigenerational community celebration, with nationwide spending expected to hit $500m this year, according to Roy Morgan research. But many of today’s costumes, decorations and treat wrappers are used once and thrown away, leading to ghastly amounts of waste and litter, and a wicked problem for wildlife. But fear not: simple tricks can turn this cursed event into a frightfully good “Hallow-green”. Magic up costumes and treat bags “It is just one day of the year, and pretty much everything associated with it is single-use plastics,” says Jenny Geddes, the chief executive of Clean Up Australia. Plastics make up 80% of litter in Clean Up’s annual count, with packets, wrappers and plastic bags consistently among the top three items found on beaches and in parks, waterways and public spaces. When it comes to costumes, treat bags and decorations, Geddes recommends looking at what you have at home, before falling into the trap of “going out and buying something new that is probably made from single-use plastic”. Start by avoiding things like throwaway plastic pumpkin buckets and use a treat container from home, she says. That could be a tote bag, a basket or even a pillowcase – as long as it can hold plenty of lollies. The vast majority of costumes and dress-ups for sale are made with non-recyclable oil-based plastics like polyester, nylon and acrylic – designed to be worn once then discarded. So why not get creative? Make your own dress-ups, swap items with friends or embrace the Japanese subculture of Jimi Halloween (by wearing mundane costumes that illustrate boring or everyday situations). Thrift stores are an obvious source of inspiration for costumes and decorations. “You can make some great things out of fantastic quality products that are in those shops for not very much money,” Geddes says. “Let’s just try and reuse as much as we can.” Haunt your home without horrifying mess Planning on stocking up sweets and turning your home into a haunted mansion for trick-or-treaters? Related: ‘I carved until my fingers bled’: inside the baffling world of pumpkin obsessives Most Halloween loot comes individually wrapped. Cut down on plastic packaging by buying lollies, bars or treats in larger bags, or look for recyclable alternatives, like small boxes or paper-wrapped sweets. Avoid lollipops with plastic sticks. For decorations, reuse or choose recycled, recyclable or organic materials. Cut paper into spooky shapes, decorate with leaves or pumpkins, or play some eerie music. Avoid balloons, glitter and fake spider webs. If you decorate with something organic, like a pumpkin, Geddes suggests putting it into your food and green waste bin, home compost or worm farm afterwards – “so that it becomes something that contributes to our environment, rather than ending up in landfill”. Avoid fake spider webs’ grisly effects With Halloween coinciding with spring, fake webs – and plastic spiders – pose a threat to birds, insects and small mammals. An increasing number of councils are asking people to steer clear of them, as the fine synthetic fibres create a frightful mess and can be deadly for wildlife. This year the City of Marion in Adelaide’s south-west will actively remove artificial webs from footpaths, nature strips and public land, alongside a public education campaign asking residents not to use them. The mayor, Kris Hanna, says the council is concerned about the environmental impact: “It’s synthetic material that ends up just getting washed into the gutters or blowing around.” To birds, fake spider webs look real, says ecologist Dr Dominique Potvin, of the University of the Sunshine Coast. “A lot of birds actually do use spider webs in their nests, or they want to eat things from spider webs. And so you’ll get birds getting caught up in this synthetic web.” “You also get the risk to young birds, the nestlings, becoming potentially entangled, or suffocated, especially if it’s something like a plastic bag.” Potvin’s research shows a huge variety of human material is found in nests – everything from fishing line to fabrics, wire and human hair. “We found nests containing human materials all the way back to the late 1800s but the materials that were being used were predominantly things like bits of newspaper – pretty biodegradable and somewhat natural,” she says. “When you get to the mid-1950s we started to see the first use of plastics, and then more things like metals, and rubber, and plastics, increasing over time.” She says if you want to use fake spider webs, a better option is to hang them indoors, for example in windows, where they can be seen but not accessed. “It’s a good move on the part of councils to try and discourage the outdoor use of this particular kind of item,” she says. “It is kind of a death trap, for some birds or other animals, that might be attracted to trying to look for food or nesting items.”