Vampires, devils, and ghosts galore. What is your Halloween costume made of this spooky season? Eighty three percent of Halloween costumes use non-recyclable plastic, equivalent to around 2000 tons of plastic waste, according to a study by environmental group Hubbub. Halloween is a time for fun and to become something other worldly. However, plastic is causing waste to get out of control in the United States in the spooky season. Many consumers are not aware of the recyclability of a material, causing a lot of plastic to be thrown away each year. Thirty five million Halloween costumes are thrown away in the U.S each year. Now that’s a spooky statistic. Not to mention the candy! Skittles, Snicker, Reese’s, pick your poison. Halloween candy contributes to the plastic packaging waste up to thirty percent, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, things don’t have to seem so scary this Halloween when it comes to plastic packaging. Plastic packaging can be repurposed and transformed through recycling, and these scary statistics can improve.
How is one to know if a candy wrapper, decoration, or costume is recyclable? CIRT can help educate consumers in the moment of discardment. CIRT, an acronym for Can I Recycle This?, uses dynamic data to help educate consumers in a user friendly way. Not certain if the material in your Halloween costume is recyclable? Check with CIRT technology before throwing it in the trash! Using CIRT geo-spatial technology, consumers can determine whether a material is recyclable in their area with the click of a button. Save or reuse Halloween costumes if a material is deemed non-recyclable. Or donate them to a local charity! Save your plastic decorations to use next year, and opt for biodegradable materials for candy packaging, or recycle plastics when possible.
Manufacturers, businesses, and consumers all have a role to play in reducing waste and transforming packaging into economic value through recycling. Manufacturers can emphasize the importance of sustainable packaging in practices. CIRT aids businesses in identifying and using recyclable materials effectively. From a business perspective, gaining information on the recyclability of your packaging can provide valuable insight. Return on investment can increase when sustainability is invested in, partly due to tax credits and grants of 10 and 30 percent for use of alternative energy properties. In the United States, Google searches for sustainable products grew by an astounding 450% between 2016 and 2018. CIRT’s interface is set up in a way that will collect data across a business’s entire distribution footprint for materials. With more people searching for sustainable products and tax credits and grants, businesses and manufacturers benefit ROI from investing in sustainability. With technology, manufacturers, businesses, and consumers alike can reduce plastic waste from October by recycling more materials.
Access to information on recycling will help plastic packaging be recycled and reduce the potential for contamination. We all have equal responsibility in reducing plastic waste during Halloween, and with CIRT, transforming plastic packaging into eco-friendly materials doesn’t have to be confusing or difficult on either end. With help from CIRT, consumers, manufacturers, and retailers can all be equipped with the information to change spooky statistics about Halloween plastic waste. CIRT takes out the research aspect of recycling for the consumer and also helps companies track metrics on material recoverability. Halloween produces a lot of plastic packaging, but maybe that waste doesn’t have to be waste. Want to learn more about recycling plastic packaging? Visit our website: https://www.cirt.tech/
