Have a sustainable spooky Halloween!
The scariest part of Halloween is the amount of waste we collectively produce in the UK from throwaway Halloween costumes and discarded pumpkins. An estimated 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste is generated from UK discarded costumes and props.. that’s the equivalent of 83 million plastic bottles!
Our top 5 tips for a sustainable spooky Halloween:
1) Make your own Halloween costume
The chances are, you have something in your wardrobe that you can turn into something spooktactular. If you’ve got the skills, be creative and make your own. Alternatively, buy your costume secondhand from a charity shop or borrow/swap costumes with a friend.
2) Choose to reuse your Halloween decor
Halloween tends to follow the same theme every year, so reuse what you already have or invest in decorations that will last so you can reuse them year after year. Avoid disposable plastic decorations. You can use glass lanterns, autumnal wreaths, dried flowers, stacks of candles, pumpkins, fairy lights and some fabric bats!
3) Support local businesses and farmers - shop local for your pumpkins
Pumpkin picking is the ultimate Halloween activity, it gets you in the spooky spirit whilst supporting your local farmer and finding your perfect pumpkin! Here in Oxfordshire, we have plenty of farms offering fields full of pumpkins alongside Halloween activities… Millets Farm, Rectory Farm, High Lodge Farm and Hadsham Farm to name a few.
4) Reduce food waste and eat your pumpkin
You can reduce food waste by preparing simple recipes with the flesh of your pumpkin, from soups, pies, cakes, risottos to roasted pumpkin seeds for a healthy snack. And by cooking with your pumpkin, you'll avoid adding to the 7.1 million tonnes of household food waste thrown away in the UK annually! You can also support local food waste organisations like Cherwell Collective.
5) Go plastic free with spooky sweets and homemade treats
Avoid sweets that come in plastic and choose to buy loose or in bulk. We have a great selection of pick n mix… lots of vegan options too! You can also prepare seasonable snacks like candied apples, spiced hot apple cider, decorated biscuits and spooky cupcakes.
Dreaming of Pumpkin Pie?
We also have all the ingredients you need to make this delicious Pumpkin Pie Spice from BBC Good Food. It looks good enough to sprinkle over everything.
Happy Halloweening! And let us know if you sprinkle your pumpkin spice over anything nice.