J&B Recycling Knowledge

As Halloween approaches, we thought we should share some of our top tips to help you celebrate more sustainably.

Real pumpkins are much more fun than plastic pumpkins. 

They can provide hours of family fun as you carve your fun designs.

Use the flesh from your Halloween pumpkin to create a delicious pumpkin soup or pumpkin pie. 

- Spiced Pumpkin Soup Recipe
- Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Pop them outside in the garden for the squirrels to eat when you are finished. Pumpkins are high in essential vitamins and nutrients that will benefit both humans and animals. Or if you don't want to encourage the local wildlife, put them in your home compost bin if you have one, or alternatively your garden waste bin or your food waste collection bin, depending on what your council provides.

Plastic pumpkins are generally made of a hard plastic that can not be recycled in your kerbside recycling bin. If you do choose to purchase plastic pumpkins, make sure you store them properly so that they can be used year after year. And when you are finished with them, donate them to a charity shop or take them to your local household waste recycling centre (aka tip). 

Don't be a zombie... dress sustainably!

Can you be creative with your fancy dress costume? Use what you already have or buy second hand! If you do choose to buy something new, opt for fabric costumes wherever possible as these can be recycled at clothes/textile banks, whereas plastic ones can't (plastic costumes should be disposed of in your general waste bin not your recycling bin). Get as much wear out of it as you can year after year, or pass it on to someone else to use. Clothes shouldn't be put in your recycling bin at home, so if you do need to dispose of it, please do so responsibly and take it to your local waste recycling centre or clothes recycling point.

Make your own treats

Make your own treats instead of buying individually wrapped sweets to help cut down on plastic waste. Toffee Apples are our favourite, but we also love gingerbread skeletons as they are super easy to make and you can use your gingerbread men cutters (who doesn't have on in their drawers?)!

- Toffee Apple Recipe
- Gingerbread Skeleton Recipe

Decorate responsibly

Creating your own decorations is much more fun and much cheaper than buying them... plus you know exactly what goes into them! We love some of these ideas by GreenCitizen.

Use reusable bags to collect sweeties

It's an obvious one, but it can be very tempting to buy those cutely decorated bags to store your child's Halloween goodies every year. Either get something you can use year on year and store it properly so that it doesn't get broken and you can find it!

Transform Plastic Milk Bottles into Ghost Lanterns

Instead of purchasing plastic ghost lanterns to light up your drive, save those empty bottles and use LED lights to light up the night. Click here to see the step-by-step instructions on how to make these glowing spirits.

Have Fun and Celebrate Responsibly!

J&B Recycling provide waste management solutions for local authorities and businesses across the North of England. Our main Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) is based in Hartlepool and we have a second site in Middlesbrough, making us ideally placed for collections across Teesside (Hartlepool, Stockton, Middlesbrough and Darlington). We also have a site in Washington and we operate established collection routes throughout Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, Sunderland, North Tyneside and Northumberland. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if we can help with your waste collection.