Reddit user surprises trick-or-treaters with clever candy alternative: ‘The kids were delighted’ - Yahoo Life

Halloween candy is a sweet, delicious tradition, but it also creates a ton of waste.

Americans spent an estimated $2.6 billion on Halloween candy in 2019 — and since most processed candy comes in plastic packaging, the remains of each sweet treat usually end up in a landfill.

But one Reddit user found an elegant alternative to this issue. Rather than handing out wasteful (and unhealthy) candies on Halloween night, user u/iobuddha created a massive pile of thrifted toys for neighborhood kids to put in their bags.

“I’m a vintage toy & clothing reseller and I had plenty of overstock,” they explained in their post to the r/ZeroWaste subreddit. “I handed out Happy Meal toys (mostly from the 90s), Disney plush dolls, and I had cases of fidget spinners, among other random packaged toys.”

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Other users were supportive of the endeavor and some gave stories of their own experiences.

“This is how my mom and I distributed her Beanie Baby collection about 15 years ago. You’re right, the kids were delighted!” one commenter said.

“You rock! This has been a rough few years, and those kids got an awesome Halloween surprise!” another chimed in.

Halloween-related waste has long been a subject of debate, whether it’s candy, costumes, or pumpkins, which almost always end up in a landfill.

Lisa Morton, a writer who has written multiple books on the holiday, has shared some shocking waste statistics related to spooky season.

“A single trick-or-treater generates one pound of trash at Halloween,” she stated. “When you consider that we have over 40 million trick-or-treaters, boy, that is a lot of trash.”

Trick-or-treating presents other waste problems, too. U.K.-based environmental group Hubbub estimates that “disposable” Halloween outfits create 2,000 tons of plastic waste every year — roughly equivalent to throwing away 83 million plastic bottles. Since the majority of costumes are made of non-compostable plastics, they almost all end up in landfills, where they can’t decompose.

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