Keep wildlife safe this Halloween

Halloween is often a great time for spooky family fun, but unfortunately it is often full of plastic and waste. Here are some ways to enjoy the spooky season without harming wildlife.

If Halloween costumes and masks to copious amounts of plastic wrapped treats is enough to scare you, check out our top tips for a plastic free and wildlife-friendly Halloween!

Avoid fake webs

Fake spider webs have become more popular, and you may see houses decorated with them in the lead up to Halloween. But these webs are dangerous for wildlife. Birds in particular can easily get tangled up in them.

Make your own eco-friendly decorations

Get creative and make decorations that are recyclable! How about...

Paper ghosts, bats and garlands
An autumnal Halloween wreath made from twigs and leaves
Autumn leaf lanterns using old jam jars and leaves
Transform milk jugs into ghost lanterns

Bring costumes back from the dead

It can be great fun dressing up as your favourite spooky character, but a recent survey found that Halloween costumes are often made up of 90% plastic. An incredible 7 million Halloween costumes are thrown away each year in the UK. But you can avoid this by:

Making your own costume from old clothes or cardboard
Costume swap with friends a family
Rent a costume just for the night

Paint on a scary face

If you are looking for a waste-free costume, face paint is the perfect option! Choose a natural, non-toxic face paint that washes off at the end of the night. Transform into a ghastly ghost or a skeleton without the plastic waste.

Halloween costumes are often made of plastic

Amy Lewis

Don't waste your pumpkin

Carving a pumpkin is a family friendly activity which screams Halloween. But what do you do with the leftovers? Sadly, millions of pumpkins will be thrown out after Halloween in the UK alone. How about using the leftovers to make a pumpkin pie or soup? Roasted pumpkin seeds make a quick and easy snack!

Any leftover pumpkin can be added to a compost pile after Halloween. Avoid leaving your pumpkins where hedgehogs can reach them as it can give them an upset stomach which is very dangerous for them.