A Guide to Plastic-Free Halloween Candy & Treats

The spooky stats don’t lie: if we keep up our current habits, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.  And Halloween candy is contributing more than its fair share to this issue. Each small piece of plastic may seem harmless on its own, but when you multiply it by millions of trick-or-treaters across the globe, it becomes a gigantic wave of waste. Most candies are wrapped in single-use plastic because it’s cheap, durable, and can be produced in huge quantities. For candy manufacturers, this material is as appealing as the sugar inside.

Luckily, more and more eco-friendly candy brands are starting to rethink their packaging, and some are switching to more sustainable materials like paper, cardboard, and even compostable wrappers. For example, foil-wrapped chocolates (think classic Halloween chocolates shaped like pumpkins or bats) are a step in the right direction because foil is much easier to recycle than plastic. And some candies come in recyclable cardboard boxes — so we’re not totally out of the (haunted) woods!

Why Plastic in Halloween Candy is a Monster Problem

Every Halloween, millions of little monsters and ghouls rush door to door, filling their bags with sweet treats. But behind all that sugary fun lurks a sinister secret: the plastic waste from Halloween candy is a real-life horror story for our planet.

Did you know that most candy wrappers are made from a mix of plastic and aluminum that can’t be recycled? They’re the Frankenstein of packaging — a mishmash of materials that refuse to break down. Once those wrappers hit the trash, they head straight for the landfill, where they sit around for hundreds of years, haunting the Earth long after Halloween is over.

To put things in perspective, around 600 million pounds of candy are purchased in the U.S. each Halloween. That’s a lot of plastic wrapping! If you lined up all those wrappers, it would be enough to circle the globe nearly four times. Most of these wrappers end up in landfills or, worse, our oceans. It’s estimated that 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the oceans each year, and candy wrappers are a notable part of this problem. Once there, they break down into tiny pieces called microplastics, which are ingested by marine life, making their way up the food chain to our dinner plates. Yikes!

Plastic pollution from candy wrappers

The Hidden Costs of Candy Wrappers

The candy wrapper problem doesn’t just stop at landfill overflow. The production of plastic is energy-intensive and heavily reliant on fossil fuels. About 8% of the world’s oil production goes toward making plastic, and the manufacturing process releases harmful greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. So, every time a plastic wrapper is made, it’s not just waste — it’s also adding to carbon emissions.  

And the problem doesn’t end there. These wrappers are light and often escape from trash cans and landfills, becoming litter in our streets, parks, and waterways. Wildlife often mistakes plastic wrappers for food, leading to ingestion that can cause serious injury or death. Birds, turtles, and other creatures may get entangled, leading to suffocation or starvation. The spooky reality is that our candy wrappers are turning into a year-round horror for our wildlife friends.

So, are we doomed to a world where candy equals plastic pollution? Not necessarily. The candy dilemma is a tough nut to crack, but by making small, sustainable choices, we can sweeten the deal for our planet and make Halloween a little less frightening for future generations.