Halloween: Environmentally Scary?

Halloween is one week from today! As you prepare for costume parties and trick or treating, keep spookiness away from the environment by considering cutting back on waste. Between store-bought costumes, plastic decorations, and candy wrappers, it's easy to see how Halloween can start to get spooky- in the wrong sort of way.

• If only half the children who wear costumes swapped and wore used instead of new, it would reduce annual landfill waste by 6250 tons (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency). Check out the National Costume Swap Day website for swapping ideas.
• Use the insides of carved pumpkins to make a tasty treat, like pumpkin bread or pumpkin soup, rather than throwing them away.
• Done with your pumpkins? Consider composting them.
• Have kids use a reusable bag to go trick-or-treating- a pillowcase works great!

We've got some spookiness up our sleeves at the Water Library- follow us on Twitter for some Halloween fun, or check out the hashtag #SpookyUW to see what's scary at the UW Madison libraries, too!