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Your store-bought Halloween costume may be harming the environment

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The season of spooks brings a lot of reasons to be hyped about, like overindulging in sugar and dressing up as Pennywise—hopefully without anyone calling you a psychopath. But like anything that brings bliss, there’s a downside too: unnecessary plastic.

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This time of the year, you’ve probably seen an influx of ready-to-wear costumes at your local department store. According to a study, you might want to ditch that option and go the DIY and ukay route instead. UK-based environmentalist charity Hubbub and Fairyland Trust have reported that an estimated 2,000 tons of plastic are put to waste. Across 19 retailers, the charities found that 83 percent of the materials used in costumes are made from oil-based plastic, which equals to 83 million plastic bottles. From their study alone, they found about seven million costumes are thrown away each year.

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“The scariest thing about Halloween is now plastic,” Chris Rose of the Fairyland Trust says. “It’s vital that we all try and choose costumes that are as environmentally friendly as possible.” So what’s the quick solution? Hubbub offered some of their recos: Unearth an old outfit (no shame in being a costume repeater), mix things up from your closet, get crafty or do a ’lil bit of thrift-shopping. 

Still from “Mean Girls”


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