As Halloween approaches, Iowa City officials are reminding residents about the importance of sustainable waste management during the holiday.
Recycling Coordinator Jane Wilch, in a recent Iowa City news post, gave tips to residents on how to navigate Halloween in a sustainable manner. She asked residents to use reusable bags like cloth or wicker baskets for collecting candy.
She also advised residents to compost pumpkins by removing any lights or candles before placing them in the yellow-top organics cart or taking them to the Iowa City Landfill’s Compost Facility.
Resource Management Superintendent Jennifer Jordan spoke on trends the county sees during a typical Halloween.
“Stepping back from a landfill and composting perspective, the bigger picture is we don’t really see a huge increase with waste at Halloween,” she said. “There certainly is more disposable stuff, which is why the city does outreach to reduce or to try and think about more sustainable ways to give out candy or other treats. But we really don’t see an overall big picture increase.”
There is still a significant national concern over Halloween-related waste. Over 40 million trick-or-treaters in the U.S. create an estimated one pound of trash each, leading to a surge in plastic waste across the country, much of which is difficult to recycle.
Jordan pointed toward holidays such as Christmas for a better example of a holiday that contributes a great deal of waste from a “landfill perspective” in Johnson County.
While Halloween doesn’t bring a sharp spike in overall waste for Johnson County, Wilch points out that much of the waste produced is easily avoidable.
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“We do tend to see a spike in waste with decorations and costumes and things of that nature that are just temporarily associated with the holiday,” Wilch said. “So anytime we can have those items that we can reuse year after year to really reduce that waste footprint is important.”
Wilch pointed to the main source of waste during Halloween: candy wrappers.
“We recommend reusing and recycling whenever possible with items,” she said. “But in the case of items such as candy wrappers, the priority is ensuring that they’re disposed of in the correct way.”
She added that using the correct disposal method for items like candy wrappers, which actually belong in the trash, helps to reduce recycling contamination.
Wilch listed additional tips residents can take to be sustainable during the holiday.
“Whenever we can have decorations and costumes that are durable and reusable, that really is the best option in terms of waste reduction and being as environmentally friendly as possible for Halloween,” she said.
Wilch advised against using metallic or glitter-coated decorations because they can’t be recycled. Wilch also pointed to secondhand stores as a great alternative way to obtain a costume.
“We do have a great selection of local secondhand and consignment stores,” she said.
Elizabeth Mackenzie of UI’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment elaborated on tips for sustainable decoration choices.
Mackenzie said she has “tried to collect holiday decorations over the years that will both be usable during Halloween, but that also will be usable into the rest of fall” to prevent unnecessarily discarding Halloween decorations that could very easily be displayed for the whole season of fall with minor changes.
“As much as possible, try to extend the life of your decorations so that you don’t need to purchase or make as many of them,” she added.
Mackenzie highlighted that such sustainable tips won’t detract from the fun of the holiday.
“The important thing to remember, too, is that we can still celebrate Halloween and other holidays, and we can still have fun and participate while do[ing] whatever we can to try to be conscious about how we’re celebrating,” she said.