How to properly wrap up Halloween activities

Did your family celebrate Halloween by trick or treating or with a small party? Halloween is neat, but the aftermath can be messy. Here are quick tips on how to wrap up your Halloween festivities.

Can you recycle candy and chocolate wrappers?

Whether you indulged in candy sales yourself or went with a costumed little one to collect treats, you might be left with Halloween candy and chocolate wrappers! Candy wrappers are not recyclable. They are too little to be sorted properly by recycling machinery and sorters. Instead, toss these directly in the trash bin.

Where do inflatable Halloween decorations go?

Did you decorate your home with a giant skeleton? Balloons, regardless of what material they are made of and what spooky thing they’re shaped as, belong in the garbage receptable. Even those marketed as “biodegradable” are still landfill-bound, so remember to toss them correctly.

How do you dispose of light bulbs?

If you got really flashy and worked in stringed lights into your Halloween décor, you may be wondering how to properly dispose of them now. How do you get rid of light bulbs – broken and whole – safely and properly now that Halloween is over? Light bulbs are not accepted in local recycling programs. Flourescent tubes and compact lights are dangerous to dump in your residential trash because of the trace amounts of mercury that they contain. All other light bulbs like LED lights belong in the trash.

Check with your municipality on local hazardous waste programs, including what is acceptable and the locations to drop these items off.

How do you dispose of drinking cups and metal caps?

Of course with Covid-19 still looming large, parties have been restricted and limited. If you had a small get together with your family or housemates to celebrate Halloween safely, you may have used these disposable red cups. It’s always best to use reusable glasses and mugs, but maybe your household didn’t want to wash dishes after a Halloween party.

Bottle metal caps should be recycled, but your municipality may have specific rules about how to collect there. You can learn more about how to properly dispose of metal bottle caps here. For those iconic classic red Solo cups, remember that they are not recyclable in most recycling programs.

How did you celebrate Halloween this year amidst Covid19 restrictions, and how did you ensure that you were wrapping it up in an eco-friendly way?