Don’t Be Haunted By Your Halloween Candy

Halloween night is filled with scary decorations, fun costumes, and lots of CANDY! Everyone loves candy; however, the spooky reality of it is the amount of plastic candy wrappers that end up in the landfill. Americans purchase 600 million pounds of Halloween candy each year. If every individual piece of candy is wrapped in plastic, that’s a lot of waste!

How To Recycle Halloween Candy Packaging

At Keep Knoxville Beautiful, we recommend buying candy in recyclable packaging, such as paper, to reduce waste. When you are shopping for candy, try to pick the ones in paper boxes, like Nerds or Milk Duds. The paper boxes can be recycled along with your recyclables, and we recommend putting them in an envelope or paper bag so they don’t get lost in the sorting process. Another tip is to buy in bulk to minimize packaging.

KKB Recycling Guide. Source: KKB

What Candy Should You Buy

You can find candy in recyclable paper boxes in your regular grocery stores like Kroger, Target, and Walmart. However, when you’re shopping for candy, there may be some other things you want to consider. Is the candy ethically made, vegan, allergen-friendly? Would you rather hand out an alternative to candy? Some nearby grocery stores that have more of the eco-friendly brands listed below are Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Fresh Market.

Sustainable Candy Brands

These sustainable candies are made with organic, regenerative, non-GMO, vegan ingredients (some), and commit to fairer supply chains. Here is a list of sustainable and eco-friendly candy brands recommended by Digestible Sustainability and Sustainable Jungle.

  • Taza Chocolate

  • TCHO Chocolate

  • Theo

  • Tony’s Chocolonely

  • Tree Hugger

  • Unreal Candy

  • Yum Earth

  • Alter Eco

  • Beyond Good

  • Divine Chocolate

  • Endangered Species Chocolate

  • Equal Exchange

  • Hu Kitchen

  • Lovely Candy Co

  • Pascha Chocolate Co

  • Surf Sweets

Alter Eco and Tony’s Chocolonely. Source: Sustainable Jungle


Vegan Candy

Here is a list of vegan candies suggested by PETA and World of Vegan.

Most of them you have probably eaten before!

Vegan Candy. Source: PETA and World of Vegan

  • Smart Sweets

  • Sour Patch Kids

  • Surf Sweets

  • Swedish Fish

  • SweeTarts

  • Tony’s Chocolonely

  • Twizzlers

  • Unreal Candy

  • Yum Earth

  • Zotz

  • Airheads

  • Atomic Fireballs

  • Charms Blow Pops

  • Chic-o-stick

  • Cocomels

  • Cry Babies

  • Dots

  • Dum Dums

  • Enjoy Life Chocolate

  • Fun Dip

  • Go Max Go

  • Hershey’s Plant-Based Chocolate

  • Jolly Rancher Hard Candy

  • Jujyfruits

  • Now and Later

  • PEZ Candy

  • Pixy Stix

  • Reeses Plant-Based Cups

  • Red Vines

  • Ring Pops

  • Skittles

  • Smarties

Watch out for these ingredients when shopping for vegan candy: carmine, casein, confectioner’s glaze, gelatin, milk, and whey. These are all animal-derived ingredients that are commonly in candy.

Eco-Friendly alternatives to candy

Great sustainable options other than candy!

Halloween Finger Puppets. Source: Pinterest

Mandarin Orange Jack-O-Lanterns. Source: Pinterest

  • Food

    • Fruit Leather

    • Fruit Snacks

    • Granola Bars

    • Local Honey Sticks

    • Mandarin Orange Jack-O-Lanterns

    • Popcorn

    • Pretzels

  • Non-Food Items

    • Bookmarks

    • Bracelets

    • Colored Pencils

    • Crayons

    • Erasers

    • Finger Puppets

    • Flashlights

    • Mini Notebooks

    • Pencils

    • Play Dough

    • Seed Bombs

    • Seed Packets

    • Small Wooden Toys

Remember, try to reuse or make your own decorations or costumes! Use things like reusable bags, pillowcases, or buckets to hold your candy when trick-or-treating.

Happy trick-or-treating!

Mya Moseley