Today (31 October) is Halloween, which is a celebration observed in many countries where people wear costumes, have parties and go trick-or-treating!
Halloween traditions can vary in every household. From apple bobbing, to carving pumpkins, or hosting a party, it is a very fun day to take part in, but have you ever thought of the amount of waste that occurs because of it?
Some hair-raising statistics on Halloween waste includes:
Damon Smith, CEO at Waste Managed, said: "Halloween is a fun time of year for all, with everyone looking to celebrate, but the long-term impact of waste and buying disposable items needs to be addressed urgently".
"Just taking small steps can make a big difference in preserving our planet from the damaging impact of Halloween waste. This year, Brits can make eco-conscious choices and ensure that our celebrations leave a minimal or no impact on the environment – so that we can enjoy Halloween for many years to come".
Costumes
Environmental group Hubbub conducted a study into Halloween waste and found that a terrifying 83% of Halloween costumes used non-recyclable oil-based plastics, which meant they were destined to end up in landfill.
That is around 2000 tonnes of plastic waste, or a horrifying 83 million plastic bottles caused by the Halloween festivities.
Even more scary is the fact that the plastic polymer used in over 63% of these costumes, polyester, can take anywhere between 20-200 years to decompose.
With the annual celebration of Halloween, landfills are being topped up with discarded costumers year-on-year and the monstrous problem of Halloween waste continues to grow.
In the US, over 5.4 million kilograms of textile waste is produced by businesses and consumers throwing away Halloween costumes.
Trick-or-treating
The National Retail Federation estimates that around $2.6 billion is spent on sweets and chocolate for Halloween.
These treats, however, are typically wrapped in plastic castings and cannot be recycled, so end up in landfill.
Lisa Morton, an Author and Journalist specialising in horror and Halloween states: "A single trick-or-treater generates one pound (half a kilo) of trash at Halloween".
This is a frightening amount when you consider how many children go out trick-or-treating across the globe.
Pumpkin carving
Another spine-chilling Halloween statistic is that around 1 billion pounds (453 million kilograms) of pumpkins are sent to landfill where they break down and emit methane gas.
40% of UK consumers buy pumpkins to carve for Halloween, but 60% report that they do not use the pumpkin to make any food and instead just throw it into the general waste bin after they have finished carving.
18,000 tonnes of pumpkins are thrown away each year, which is about 360 million portions of pumpkin pie!
When pumpkins are sent to landfill, they decompose and produce the extremely harmful greenhouse gas, methane.
This gas is over 25 times more harmful to the Earth's atmosphere than carbon dioxide, and is a key contributor to climate change. Reducing methane is an environmental priority.
How can I put the environmental "treat" in Halloween?
Ways to make Halloween more eco-friendly includes:
