Trick or treat,
Smell my feet,
Please keep litter off the street!
Halloween is one of our family’s favorite holidays but as with everything else in 2020, our celebration will look a little different this year. While our home is still covered in spooky decor, there will be no big Halloween party with our family and friends and sadly, there will be fewer goblins and ghosts ringing our doorbell for treats due to the coronavirus pandemic.
If you will be hitting the streets with a pack of spooky monsters or a darling pumpkin or two, please don’t trash our streets. In my neighborhood, it’s common for us to awake after a typical Halloween night to find littered candy wrappers covering the sidewalks and grass. Perhaps the coronavirus safety precautions of handwashing and mask-wearing will decrease the number of mid-walk Reese Cups eaten this Halloween. Or perhaps we’ll wake to find new types of litter added to the mess with disposable masks and gloves or disinfecting wipes littered along our streets. Oh, the horror!!
Did you know…it can take up to FIVE YEARS for a plastic-coated candy wrapper to decompose? Latex and nitrile medical gloves will persist in the environment for decades if littered. And those disposable surgical masks? While many may think they are made of biodegradable paper, they are actually made of….wait for it…PLASTIC. In Hampton Roads, most of this littered trash will inevitability end up in our local waterways. The fish, crabs and wildlife really don’t consider litter a treat.
So, what can you do to prevent a trick or treat Halloween disaster?
- Hold on to your trash. The best place for a mask is on your face. The second best place is in your pocket. Don’t drop used masks or gloves on the ground. It’s bad for the environment and could expose the person cleaning up your mess to your germs.
- Consider wrapper-free treats. You’d be surprised how excited kids can be over non-candy treats like bracelets or crayons. Just make sure the items you select can be easily disinfected.
- Give a helpful reminder. Help your child and his/her merry crew of bandits make the right choice by reminding them that trash on the ground means trash in our waterways.
- Hold a post-Halloween cleanup. Make another trip around the neighborhood with your little ones when dawn breaks to collect any litter accumulated from the Halloween revelry. Make a game out of it and see who can find the most! (Please be sure to wear your protective gear.)
Staying in this year? Here are five fun go-green ways to celebrate with your family!
- Have a pumpkin carving contest. Vote for the scariest, the silliest, or the fanciest – everyone can be a winner! Make sure to compost or reuse those pumpkin guts.
- Have a Zoom dance party. Gather your friends in their festive attire and share a dance party to shake out those candy-powered wiggles.
- Make a candy chute. The act of passing out candy can be just as rewarding as trick or treating. Build a socially-distanced candy chute to join in on the fun from a safe distance. Bonus points if you can make your chute out of recycled materials. Anyone have wrapping paper tubes on hand?
- Upcycled crafts. Bottle cap bats? Toilet paper roll witches? Mason jar luminaries? Halloween crafts are fun for all ages and a great way to celebrate Halloween. Check out our suggested projects on Pinterest and tag us on Instagram to show us what you make! Bonus points for using natural, upcycled, or recyclable materials.
- Boo! a Friend. Have you gotten in on the latest trend? Booing a friend means leaving a basket of small presents or treats on a friend’s doorstep as a fun surprise. Leave a Halloween-themed “boo bucket” of coloring books, candy, and small activities like puzzles which are all welcome gifts to families staying away from the crowds due to coronavirus.
From all of us as askHRgreen.org, may you have a very happy, safe and green Halloween!