Green Newton

Here are some practical tips on how to be more sustainable this Halloween:

Beg, borrow, swap or make your costume.

• Connect with your friends and neighbors and see if they have any costumes from previous Halloweens.
• Organize a fun costume swap at your school or in the neighborhood.
• Think creatively to upcycle used clothing into a costume.
• Check out the Halloween costumes at the Newton Swap Shop and donate ones you don’t need any more at the Pumpkin Smash (November 4 at Newton City Hall).

Make your decorations sustainable.

• Use a pillowcase for candy collection instead of a plastic jack-o-lantern.
• Avoid plastic dishware at your Halloween gathering.
• Decorate with a real pumpkin and bring it to the Newton Pumpkin Smash for free composting.
• Use old strips of fabric/sheets to make your own ghosts and goblins to hang up.
• Seemingly innocuous materials like fake cobwebs and glittery decorations are really bed for the environment. Made of plastic that is bad for the environment, small birds, bats, butterflies and bees can also become entangled in them and can die as a result.