Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on 31st of October. Over time Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings and creative costumes.
This holiday has become more and more popular in the UK, but with it comes some very scary sustainability issues and as one of the UK’s leading sustainable childcare providers we wanted to inform you of these issues and provide you with some solutions…
Pumpkin Waste
Did you know that 18,000 tonnes of pumpkins are sent to landfill every year in the UK? That’s enough to provide everyone in the country with a bowl of pumpkin soup.
Why not keep the seeds and flesh to eat later: you can roast the seeds, and make pumpkin soup or even muffins with the flesh.
Composting: If you don’t want to eat your pumpkins, you could compost them at home. Home composting is the most environmentally-friendly way of dealing with kitchen and garden waste. Did you know, composting at home for just one year can save global warming gases equivalent to all the CO2 your kettle produces annually, or your washing machine produces in three months?
We send recyclable plastic to landfill
Plastic broomsticks, devil horns, skeleton masks. These are all fantastic costume accessories but people are not really sure if they’re recyclable, and so they send them to landfills.
A top tip for this Halloween is to check the packaging before you bin it for an indication of what’s recyclable.
Halloween Decorations
When it comes to Halloween decorations, why not make your own? You can use cardboard to make a skeleton or tombstones, make spiders out of black pipe cleaners, create ghosts out of old sheets, and repurpose your toilet paper rolls to make spooky bats.
Furthermore, instead of using a plastic pumpkin bucket to hold treats in, why not use something you already have? You could use a regular bucket, or even an old bag or pillowcase that you can decorate and use every year.
Batteries are not recycled properly
Halloween comes with a lot of light-up toys and decorations. But on 1st November, they’re often discarded with other household waste, without separating the batteries. Around 99% of batteries are not recycled properly, and they end up leaking chemicals into our environment.
Be sure to responsibly dispose of all batteries, finding your nearest battery disposal location here.
Halloween costumes are sent to landfill
Halloween costumes are everywhere in the weeks leading up to Halloween. But parents don’t often want to keep them after the event.
Why not donate your costumes to your local charity shop or to someone else who can use them next year? Or if you’re really serious about sustainability, you could make your own costume out of otherwise-non-recyclable plastics!
At Tops Day Nurseries we take children from 3 months to pre-school age so we are here for you whenever you’re ready. We have over 30 nurseries across the South so you are sure to find the one that suits you and your family.
If you want to find out more about Tops Day Nurseries, we are here to help so don’t hesitate to get in touch.
