Sustainability has become an increasingly important topic over the past few years. Especially with the increasing risk of overfilling landfills and the impact this is having on the environment and climate change. By living sustainably and reducing our waste, we can help save our planet. Halloween, like most holidays is a time of the year where we produce lots of waste, but this doesn’t have to be the case.

 

Pumpkin Pie

I’ve found that as Halloween approaches the cheap pumpkins sell out, leaving only the expensive ones left. A large number of these pumpkins go to waste. So, for next year, why not plan in advance and plant your own. This way you can look after your student budget, have some fun looking after the pumpkin patch with your friends and look after the planet too.

Once you have enjoyed carving your pumpkin and using it for decoration, there is also the opportunity to create awesome pumpkin based recipes so that nothing goes to waste. This could be something sweet like pumpkin pie or even some pumpkin gnocchi to go alongside a pasta dish. If you only have a little pumpkin, you could make your own pumpkin spiced latte or even a pumpkin cocktail!

Homemade Costume

Need a costume for Halloween? Halloween costumes are usually overpriced and leave a hole in our student budgets. So let’s save our money and the environment too by making our own from items we already have around the house. Some of my favourites include repurposing an old white sheet to become a ghost. Or wearing some old clothes and splattering them with some fake blood to become a zombie. If you don’t want to make your own, I always find a bargain in the charity shop. There are plenty of second-hand stores in Leeds that you can enjoy looking around to find those hidden gems that will be perfect for your costume.

Decorations

If you’re looking to make your house look spooky for Halloween, you might be surprised to know that you don’t have to go to a shop to buy decorations. You can reduce waste and make them yourself from random items you have lying around the house. If you have some empty wine bottles, you can paint them and use them as unique candle holders. Old fabrics are great too as you can cut them up to create some spooky tattered curtains or a ghost. You could also use some black pipe cleaners or string and cardboard to create some creepy spider bunting. Any old delivery boxes can be turned into a cardboard graveyard. There is the opportunity to be really creative here! 

Recycle

After Halloween has passed, you can recycle any cardboard and leftover unusable pumpkin waste.

Remember that you can save your costumes and decorations and reuse them next year to help reduce the amount of waste your household produces. These small actions can really make a difference.

I hope you have a super spooky Halloween and enjoy trying out these ways that you can celebrate whilst looking after the planet.

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