Hey, Green Junkie!
Halloween is right around the corner and in this episode I’m teaching you how to put the care back in scare.
While Halloween is such a fun and beloved holiday, it can create a crazy amount of waste between the candy, the costumes, the decor and everything in between.
I believe that we can still have a spooky and fun Halloween AND also generate less waste in the process and today I’m showing you how to do just that.
What you can expect from this episode:
- How much garbage the average trick – or – treater creates in one night
- Companies I love that create organic and healthy treats
- How to provide healthy swaps for your kids’ candy
- How to get creative with costumes and avoid buying new
- BONUS TIP: Rent your Halloween costume to be more sustainable
- Sustainable Halloween decor
- Where to send your Halloween waste so it can be repurposed
You’ll discover that and so much more in this episode.
I’d also like to thank Strawesome for supporting today’s episode. I have been using their products for years and how, with their glass straws, they have truly eliminated the need for disposable straws.
Want to grab your first awesome Strawesome straw? Go here and use code GREENJUNKIE to save 20% off your next purchase.
If you love this podcast be sure to leave a review and share a screenshot of this episode to your IG stories. Tag @greenjunkiepodcast so I can shout you out and publicly say thanks.
Thanks for listening and being here.
Your green bestie,
Xoxo Stephanie
Follow me on Instagram
Follow me on Twitter
Come join the Green Junkie Facebook Group
Become a Green Junkie Insider and gain access to ad-free episodes and bonus content
Shops mentioned in this episode:
LISTEN BELOW
TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 5
0:00 Hey green junkie, I'm your host Stephanie Moram. And today we're going to talk about all things Halloween, and how you can save some money and save the planet at the same time.
0:12 Before we jump in to having a scary Halloween, I wanted to talk to you about Strawesome. Strawsome is a glass straw company, and they're awesome. I've been using them for about 10 years, and I wanted to share a little bit of an origin story about the founder and owner of this awesome company.
0:31 In the beginning, there were plastic straws everywhere and people thought this was good because straws help suck things out faster and easier, without messes. You could find plastic straws almost anywhere and drink with ease.
0:43 But soon plastic straws were found in places that were not so good. They were found used and thrown away along streets, on the beach, and even in the waterways. Used plastic straws are everywhere.
0:55 Plastic straws were found in the bodies of animals that lived out at sea, like turtles noses. #thatisprettygross. That was terrible to discover. But then something unimaginable happened – the plastic garbage patch was found. It was a huge collection of tons of plastic things floating on the ocean, the size of Texas. 1:20 But then something unexpected happened. A creative glass artist made a straw from glass.
1:28 A glass straw, what is that? Is it a bean shooter? Is it a crack pipe? No silly. It's a straw you drink from, kind of like all those plastic ones you use all day long. And they aren't toxic, and can be used over and over again. And look way cool, like art.
1:45 Oh, I get it. That's a great idea. Friggin brilliant. I can't believe no one thought of this before.
1:51 Since I don't want to use plastic straws anymore. Can I get a glass straw? Can I get a bunch of them for my family and friends? Can I get long one, short ones, fat ones and colored ones? Please pretty please. Yes, of course.
2:03 We would love to work together and spread the word to everyone. We know that there's a solution to this plastic straw problem that can make the world a better place in our lifetime. Sounds good? Yes, let's do it.
2:15 So Strawesome was born and people on earth lived happily ever after – with their glass straws and healthy planet. Head over to Strawesome and use the code GREENJUNKIE to get 20% off.
2:26 Alright, now onto the episode.
2:29 The Halloween season is a time for all things scary, ghosts, goblins and garbage. That's right. An average single trick or treater generates about one pound of trash. That's a lot of trash for one little human. From the non recyclable candy wrappers to the plastic that is used to create decorations around the holidays and the plastic used for the different costumes – we create a lot of waste.
2:56 I'm going to share with you four ways that you can live a little more green and sustainable and save some money this holiday season.
3:05 So let's start with the candy. Everyone's gonna get candy. Kids want candy. But are there better options out there for us that don't have red dyes and blue dyes and that are harmful to our bodies? And also, is there a better packaging out there? Can we offer organic candy instead?
3:25 So I'm going to give you a couple of companies that I really do like, of course there's still going to be some waste associated with that candy but the candies that your kids are eating will be better.
3:35 My number one is Young Earth, they make lollipops, they make gummies, they're really really good and they make specific candies for the holidays so you can get little Halloween candies that you can give out
3:48 . Another company I love is called Made Good. They make granola bars and they make bite size granola bars there are organic that you can give out over the holidays.
3:59 Another favorite is Surf Sweets. Again, there are gummies that you can give out during the holidays.
4:06 There's another brand called Wholesome. They make tons of different things but they do make candy. Again, it's organic.
4:14 If you're looking for candy bars, and you don't want to eat their traditional candy bars because of the ingredients that are involved in those candy bars – Unreal candy is a really really good option. The ingredients are better there is less harmful dyes in the candy so that is an option for you.
4:33 I also like Annie's bunnies. They make little gummy bear shaped like bunnies that you can also give out.
4:41 When it comes to candy, if you don't want your kids eating a bunch of candy, a couple of tips could be that you could swap out your organic candy and then take away the candy that they get.
4:55 So what I do is I allow my kids to pick about 10 to 15 little kids candy that they want out of their bag. And then that's what they get. And the rest we give away. Either my husband takes it to work or we donate it or whatever that looks like – we get rid of it.
5:12 I also sometimes substitute some of their candy for a healthier version. Don't get me wrong candy is candy. It is still full of sugar. But what we're trying to avoid is the crappy dyes and the high fructose corn syrup that you are going to find in this candy.
5:30 Next up, let's talk about costumes? So you're going shopping and you're gonna buy a costume, and you're gonna use it once? Maybe twice – if your kids decide to wear it to school. So are there better ways to find costumes? Of course there is.
5:50 You can thrift shop, definitely thrift shop, you can find some really, really cool stuff. Because the following year, you're probably not going to fit into the same costume you were the year before. I'm talking about the kids. So guess what, you can donate it so try thrift shopping first before you decide to buy brand new.
6:10 You could also do a hybrid version where you DIY your your kids costume, and also thrift shop. So last year, my daughter wanted to be a zombie schoolgirl. So what did we do, we went to the thrift shop, we got a blouse and we got a tie. We came home and ripped it all up to make it look like a zombie. She had a black skirt already at home that we used and we got some leggings as well at the thrift shop and we cut them all up. Then what we did was I had some black, kind of powdered makeup at home and I kind of brushed that all over the costume to make it look dirty, and then put it on her face and voila, we had her costume.
6:53 It did not cost a lot and this year, she wants to wear it again. Perfect. Now I'm saving even more money.
7:02 You can also do a costume swap. I was in a Facebook group a couple of weeks ago, and someone started a Facebook thread about swapping costumes. I thought this was awesome. So people just listed whatever costumes they had at home and then they got in touch with each other and they swapped costumes. Again, such a great way to reduce your footprint by reusing and using stuff that other people don't want any more.
7:33 If you don't want to buy stuff at a thrift shop, try Facebook marketplace you will find tons of stuff on Facebook. It is kind of my go to place when I'm looking for something secondhand.
7:47 Third – decorations. They create a lot of waste and most of the time they're made out of crappy materials, which is plastic. I love plastic. Kidding… I really do not like plastic at all. I try to avoid plastic as much as I can.
8:05 So when it comes to decorations, if you are going to buy new try to buy things that are going to last that you can use year after year and not have to keep buying decorations all the time. And when you're done with these decorations, for whatever reason you don't want to decorate anymore, they're in good enough condition where you can go on Facebook marketplace or you can sell them somewhere online and make a little bit of extra cash.
8:31 Try finding decorations at the thrift shop. You are going to hear me talk about this all the time – thrift shopping because I love to thrift shop. I love to buy secondhand. I love to reuse what I already have.
8:44 So thrift shop, DIY some of your decorations, get your kids together and color and do some fun stuff some creative art together and create your decorations.
8:56 When it comes to your pumpkins, after you've cut up your pumpkin, be sure to roast those seeds. They are delicious. They're nutritious, and you're creating less waste by eating the seeds.
9:09 So it was my daughter's birthday. And she really wanted to have a scary birthday party. So I took to Facebook marketplace and I bought a handful of decorations and guess what they're in amazing condition that I will be able to use year after year to decorate for this holiday.
9:30 Lastly, bags, no use getting a plastic bag to collect your candy. How about you take a pillowcase or if you have a reusable bag laying around the house that you can use or even a backpack. Anything of those sorts, grab what you have around the house to collect your candy. Like I said there's no use creating waste and trash and going out and buying a flimsy bag, that you really are only going to use once.
10:04 And lastly, a little bonus when it comes to waste, especially the candy waste. Terracycle is a great option for you to use to get your stuff recycled. They offer some free programs, they offer some paid programs available in Canada and the US. They take your trash and transform it into something that can be used like bags, they recycled plastic.
10:32 They do offer recycling of candy wrappers. So I collect all the candy wrappers, and I send them off to Terracycle.
10:42 So these are the four ways that you can have a more sustainable Halloween. So be mindful of the choices that you are making. Think about the candy that you're going to buy. Think about the costume that you're going to buy for your kids think about those decorations and they could potentially end up in the landfill. And think about the bag that you are about to use with your kids to collect some candy.
11:06 So with that said, let's put the care back into scare. We don't have to be wasteful. During this season of Halloween, let's have a responsible Halloween. There's no need to terrify terrorize the environment in the process, while we're having a fun and scary Halloween.
11:31 Head over to Instagram and follow @greenjunkiepodcast where I share more tips and tricks and fun videos on how you can become a green junkie
Leave a Reply