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As we head into our last week of the 30 days Plastic Free and Less Waste Challenge, here are some tips for Halloween
1 - Candy – all that candy wrapped in plastic, then packaged in plastic bags. What to do? There are candy treats that come in paper boxes, Dots, Junior Mints, and Skittles are just a few. You can buy larger single boxes of these and other candies at places like Target. You can buy individual boxes and purchase as many as you need.
2 - Money - How about giving money to trick and treaters instead of candy? No waste at all!
3 -Costumes - If you are handy you can make costumes, or if you are not inclined to do homemade costumes, what about hitting those thrift stores. I have gotten several great costumes there.
4 – While we are on Halloween, if you carve pumpkins, save and roast the seeds and they make a delicious snack. Lasts a while too.
More helpful hints about reducing food waste.
5 – Use all of the vegetable. The tops of turnip greens, radishes and many other vegetables are delicious. Use like any other greens and sauté, put in soups etc.
6 – Carrot tops make a delicious pesto. Use as you would basil and either add to the basil or make carrot top pesto on its own.
7 – Cook more at home. Saves a tremendous amount of food waste both from using what you already have at home and not throwing it out, but also, all the waste generated at restaurants. You would be amazed at how much food is wasted at restaurants.
8 – Donate - If you have food in your pantry that you do not want to use, you know that can or two of stuff you bought but didn’t like etc, or thought you would try but know you won't get around to it, donate to a local food bank.
9 – Shop your fridge and pantry. Before you go to the store, take a look at your own fridge and pantry. It is easy to buy doubles or more than we need when we get to the store if you don’t know what we already have.
10- Grocery shopping Try not to shop when you are hungry. If you are hungry everything looks good and we tend to over shop, and always make a list and try to stick with the list. So tempting to see those lovely displays and products that are calling to us. Companies pay big bucks to have us buy their products whether we need them or not.
11 – Share – Buying in bulk? Find someone to share the products and the cost. Cook too much? Find a friend or neighbor who would love a gift of a meal.
12 – Compost, compost, compost! When all else fails, please try to compost your waste. The I 66 and I 95 transfer stations take compost. Some of the farmers markets are still taking compost until markets close. Find a neighbor who composts, or look into a service that picks up your compost each week, like Veteran Compost, or Compost Crew.
Have a safe and sustainable Halloween and see you at our 350Fairfax virtual meeting November 2nd at 7:30pm
Sustainably,
Helene
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