Have a Happy Green Halloween Season!

There are lots of easy ways to make your Halloween green this year. The holiday is often marked by plastic-fibered cheaply produced costumes, masks and decorations that are made in highly polluting overseas factories and shipped to big box stores. Americans spend billions of dollars on this stuff. And after a year or two? Many of us throw it in the trash. Instead, donate your used costumes or use pieces to re-costume. Check out thrift shops and swap costumes with friends for “new” costumes. Create costumes from recyclables. Sew up some custom outfits or rent something “spooktacular.”

“Trick or treat!” Halloween’s #1 fun-filled activity is about collecting individual plastic-wrapped sweets in plastic bags or pails. Instead, use small recyclable or reusable bags and consider how many sweets you want your children and you to eat. Leftovers? Don’t throw them away—drop the sweets off at Recycle Utah for a staff treat!

Pumpkins galore! Often trucked to us from faraway commercial farms. We carve them into Halloween faces. Fun! Most end up in landfills where, like all food waste, they produce methane gas. Instead pick out locally grown pumpkins, gourds, and corn stalks. Use pumpkin flesh for baking; seeds for roasting a tasty snack. Leftover pieces are nutritious food for animals such as squirrels and deer. Compost pumpkins, gourds, and corn stalks. Stay tuned for more sustainable pumpkin disposal tips in a Green Tip later this month.

To make the best green Halloween check out Summit County, Park City, and Heber Valley visitor websites for a list of local fall family activities you might not otherwise think of: fall harvest festivals and hay rides, corn mazes, Halloween yards, WitchFest, Pumpkin Days, Little Haunts, Halloween train rides, Haunted Hollows, Halloween films, and even an opportunity to swim with pumpkins! Don’t miss Halloween on Historic Main Street in Park City!

By Bev Harrison