Zero Waste Halloween – How to celebrate in a scary and sustainable way 🎃

The air is getting cooler, the leaves are falling, and soon it's time for pumpkins, ghosts, and lots of sweets: Halloween is just around the corner and has arrived in Switzerland, too. But how can you celebrate this holiday without creating an avalanche of trash? That's exactly what this is about: With small, clever decisions, you can make your Halloween celebration more sustainable, stylish, and free of single-use plastic and packaging chaos.

Preparation: Good planning = less waste

Before you get started, it's worth taking a quick look at your planning. The better prepared you are, the fewer leftovers and unnecessary waste you'll create.

• Consider how many guests you'll have. This will help you better estimate food and drinks.

• Ask your guests beforehand if they want to bring anything (e.g. snacks, drinks, decorations) – this way you share the responsibility and reduce excess

• Use reusable dishes, cutlery, and glasses instead of single-use plastic. Perhaps your guests will even bring their own cups.

• If you carve pumpkins: Consider how you will reuse the leftovers (e.g. roasting pumpkin seeds, processing the pulp) or how you will compost them

Spooky decorations: sustainable & creative

Halloween decorations can easily consist of cheap goods—lots of plastic, disposable items, balloons, and foil. But there are other options:

• Use natural materials like twigs, dried leaves, pumpkins, or chestnuts. They're biodegradable and free.

• Instead of foil or plastic ghosts: Use old bedsheets, fabric scraps, or old T-shirts to create ghost or bat shapes
  

• Use reusable and sustainable light sources: e.g., LED tea lights, fabric lanterns, or candles made from rapeseed or soy wax

• Use cloth towels and napkins instead of disposable plastic or paper tablecloths

• In Brockis or secondhand shops there are all kinds of spooky Halloween decorations

Snacks & Drinks: Enjoy without worrying about packaging

Halloween is often associated with sweets, drinks, and buffets. The motto here is: less disposable, more quality.

• Let your creativity run wild and create your own spooky snacks. Using beetroot powder or food coloring, for example, you can create scary, bloody desserts.
• If possible, buy sweets without individual foil or in large packages, and serve them in reusable bowls or glasses
  

• Offer drinks in large containers (“self-service” station) and provide glasses or ask your guests to bring their own drinking vessels

• Avoid single-use plastic straws or plastic cutlery whenever possible. Instead, use stainless steel straws , silicone straws , or simply no straws at all ;-)

• You can offer surplus food directly to take away in containers you bring with you (e.g., a small guest goodie bag).

Costumes & disguises: sustainable instead of exaggerated

For many, Halloween without a costume is hard to imagine. However, many costumes are only used briefly and then end up in the trash.

• First, look in your closet or at a friend's to see if you can repurpose something old

• 'Homemade' can simply be set as a costume rule. This guarantees fun and encourages creativity.

• Use second-hand shops or swap meets instead of buying new or rent a costume

• Use makeup instead of plastic masks

• If you do buy something, look for materials that can be reused – for example, good fabrics that can be used again next year.
  

Cleaning up afterwards: clean & resource-conscious

The party's over, and often a mountain of waste and effort follows. Here are a few tips for the aftermath:

• Sort waste carefully: glass, paper, organic waste, and residual waste. Avoid plastic packaging, which is difficult to recycle.

• Compost organic waste such as pumpkins and vegetable trimmings

• Store reusable decorations, dishes, and glasses for next year

• Reflect: What can be done better next year? What things have worked well?

Conclusion: Celebrate scarily, but mindfully

A sustainable Halloween doesn't mean deprivation. Quite the opposite: It means celebrating consciously with style, creativity, and responsibility. If you implement a few of these tips, your Halloween night will not only be unforgettable but also conserve resources.

So: Grab your pumpkin, create your costume, invite your loved ones, and celebrate a Halloween where the scariest thing isn't the pile of trash the next morning ;-)