Here are some tricks to a low waste Halloween cleanup
MINNEAPOLIS -- From candy wrappers to carved-out pumpkins, to one-and-done costumes, many people are dealing with more trash than usual the day after Halloween.
Like many things - when the sun comes up - the consequences of Halloween come to light
That's when those treats become tricky; "It adds up if you think of all the kids trick or treating, it adds up, and all of those wrappers, the soft plastics are a lot of what litters our environment, because it gets caught in the wind, it gets washed away, animals what it, its. Soft and pliable and might look like a leaf to them," explained Kate Marnach.
And those wrappers can't be recycled at the curb. But Marnarch has solutions. She runs Zero(ish), a low-waste store in southwest Minneapolis that now has a wrapper collection bin.
"We fill the box and we ship it to a company that separates it. Based on the type of plastic and they do actually recycle it," she said.
She's already started recycling her own kids' wrappers, after an epic night of gathering. And when your mom's a zero waste wiz, Marnarch said she also tried to get all the costumes secondhand.
So, she suggests everyone save costumes and trade with friends for next year, sell them or thrift them.
"We want this holiday to be so fun for our kids but we also have to think about what we are leaving for our kids in the future," Marnarch said.
You can also cut your pumpkins into pieces, bury them in your yard, take them to a kid's pumpkin smash in Edina on Thursday or toss them into your curbside compost.
As for extra unwrapped candy, there's a military non-profit that sends it overseas to troops.
Tare Market in northeast Minneapolis is also accepting recycled candy wrappers.