My master composting course also includes recycling in the curriculum. I’m not that up to speed on the recycling end of things. All I really know about recycling is what I put out on the curb every Tuesday. In class, we’ll be learning how my county recycles glass, plastic and even motor oil. This got me thinking about other types of recycling.
Recycling is the last of the three R’s
REDUCE
RE-USE
RE-CYCLE
We often feel really good about ourselves when we recycle our bottles and newspapers, but the really important R’s are the first two.
Reduce our consumption of “stuff”
and
Re-use what we’ve consumed.
How can we get more of those two R’s into the equation?
As I noticed the huge displays of Halloween candy, decorations and goodies flood my local stores, I got an idea.
Halloween is one of my most favorite holidays of the year. For me, its not about the candy, I love to decorate the yard with tombstones and see all the trick or treaters in their great costumes.
What I don’t love about halloween is shopping the party stores for costumes. Everything in the store is wrapped in plastic and made in China. It scares me when I consider the environmental impact of these purchases. There’s gotta be a better way to get decked out for Halloween that doesn’t hurt my planet and my pocketbook.
Unlike other days of the year, when it comes to Halloween, you can’t be an outfit repeater. So why not set up a swap for Halloween costumes? This way, you can shop, free of charge for your outfit and someone else can benefit from what you wore last year. What a great way to kick off the Halloween season!
It can be as simple as this:
1. Gather your previously used halloween costumes. Dust ‘em off, hang ‘em nicely on a coat hanger. Find a friend or two who might have one of those metal garmet hangers.
2. Find a location, set up a date, or two.
3. Get the word out. Email all your friends, get the word out to local papers and online community message boards. Contact the school’s PTA environmental committee. Ask them to help you get the word out.
4. Show up at the location, with your costumes on a garmet hanger. Hang out. Have fun as people from all over the community bring their costumes to swap with.
I’m hoping to put this plan into action the next couple of weeks at my local farmer’s market. Feel free to “steal” this idea and set up a recycled halloween costume swap in your community.
