HFCS-free brain lolipop and single origin, fair trade chocolate

Halloween can be as green as any other day. By making some simple changes in your holiday traditions you can reduce waste, plastic and damage to the environment.

One thing you can do is start a costume swap. Talk to your friends and your children’s friends. This weekend would be a great time to do a last minute costume exchange, especially for all those procrastinators like me. While you’re doing a costume swap, maybe do a decoration swap as well. You might be sick of some of your older decorations, but someone else may love them.

Instead of the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) candy, how about candy made from real, cane sugar. Along those same lines look for candy and chocolate with organic ingredients. If you’re investing in good chocolate you can also seek out single origin and fair trade. All those things make for a more eco-friendly and socially conscious way to treat.

Make decorations from things that might otherwise wind up in the landfull. This kind of decor is called upcycled or recycled. These decorations reduce waste and plastic use. Plus, reusing something takes less energy than recycling an item due to the energy use involved in recycling. Although recycling still takes less energy than making something from a virgin, mined source.

If you use candles, swap out the petroleum-based candles for soy or beeswax candles. Beeswax candles burn cleaner and slower  than the petroleum-based candles. The soy and beeswax candles also produce less indoor air pollution.

If you do even a few of these suggestions you’ll be on your way to having a more sustainable Halloween. I’m sure you can think of other ways to green your Halloween. Feel free to post those ideas here or on my Facebook page.

Have a Happy Halloween.