What does green mean to you?

To me, Green can be a relaxing color for the human eye, resembling nature, meaning to be environmental-friendly, or zero waste. Recently I organized a Green Halloween at SFU Residence together with the Zero Waste Volunteers of SFU Sustainability Office. Have you ever experience a Green Halloween? A Halloween where crafts are made from reusable materials. This event was aimed to provide an educational Halloween for residents where they could learn about recycling during Halloween.

What is the relation between sustainability and Halloween? As we all know Halloween is THE opportunity for you to dress up, to be scary and party with friends, but it could also be a chance for you to think about the environment while having fun during Halloween, follow along and see what we did. During our Halloween party, our Zero Waste volunteers provided all attendees with recycling knowledge through a spin the wheel activity. Such as sorting waste items into the correct SFU bin while addressing common misconceptions about waste. For example, did you know that the plastic lids belonging to a coffee cup should go into the “Recyclables bin” (blue bin) while the actual coffee cups go into the “Food Scraps bin” (green bin).

(Photo by the author, Ka Yiu Cheng)

Give a new meaning to wasted items

Another way you can become more environmental-friendly during Halloween is by creating your own Halloween decoration. Not only will you save money when skipping to buy new decoration every year and cut down on any future waste, but you’ll also give a new meaning to wasted items!

(Photo by the author, Ka Yiu Cheng)

Above is what you’d normally consider to be waste, turned into new Halloween decorations. So for next Halloween, I’m challenging you to try to incorporate your recycling knowledge, be creative, and always keep the environment in mind while enjoying an event.

Why should we move toward to experience a Green Halloween?

1. Save money and save the environment. According to the annual survey from the National Retail Federation conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, celebrants Americans was planned to spend $86.79 during Halloween this year (Smith, 2018). We could save a lot of money if we make our own Halloween decorations from recyclable materials, such as plastic bottles, ice-cream wooden sticks, or painting on craft paper.
   
2. Show your creativity! After learning more about recycling from the Zero Waste volunteers, we used a recycled plastic bottle to create a scary bird. As well as wooden ice-cream sticks, coloring, googly eyes, and stickers from SFU ResLife. A great opportunity to learn what can be accomplished with recycled materials.

References

1. Wallander, M. (2013, December 17). Frightful Waste: Making Halloween Green. Retrieved   from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mattias-wallander/frightful-waste-making-ha_b_4116531.html

2. S. (2018, September 20). Halloween spending to reach $9 Billion. Retrieved from https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/halloween-spending-reach-9-billion