Three ways to avoid buying a new Halloween costume this year - and what to do with old ones

On an unusually hot day in Los Angeles, Braddock Sandoval perused tables heaped with wigs, a Darth Vader mask, a black tutu, and various other garments.

Sandoval, a chemistry professor at Occidental College, had dropped by a campus clothing swap aimed at keeping unused Halloween items out of the trash. Looking to pick up a free outfit, he selected a Hawaiian flower necklace and a shark costume to try on.

"I think there’s too much cheap plastic waste in this world. So the idea that people are recycling costumes is fantastic, both for budgets, like me, but also just for the planet," Sandoval said with a laugh. Guided by his finds, he planned to attend an upcoming Halloween dance party dressed as a great white shark eating a tourist.

Each October, Halloween outfits take center stage, but millions are thrown into landfills after being worn just once. Most are manufactured from synthetic plastics that do not readily decompose, aggravating environmental pollution. Across Southern California and the rest of the nation, thrift outlets and costume swaps are helping prevent these outfits from going to waste. By allowing people to hand in clean garments and select pre-owned replacements, these initiatives save resources and curb the emissions linked to manufacturing new goods.

This year, the National Retail Federation projects that Americans will spend roughly $4.4 billion on Halloween attire. Figures from the Environmental Protection Agency indicate that in 2018 alone, consumers tossed out approximately 11.3 million tons (10.25 million metric tons) of textiles. To shop more sustainably, experts advocate adhering to three simple practices: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Shelie Miller, a University of Michigan professor who researches the environmental footprint of consumer goods, noted that Halloween costumes mirror fast fashion, as they are frequently produced cheaply from plastic materials. They break down easily, she explained, and are "not really intended to stick around for a very long time."

The broader ecological consequences are considerable. Clothing generation represents between 4% and 10% of global carbon emissions, Miller observed, while textile dyeing accounts for around 20% of industrial wastewater emissions worldwide.

Synthetic fabrics used in many garments and costumes can release microplastics during washing, which then flow into aquatic systems. These microplastics have been detected in oceans, air, food, drinking water, and human tissues, with growing evidence indicating potential risks to human health. Furthermore, many synthetic fibers are derived from petroleum, which releases pollutants when burned, driving global warming and exacerbating severe weather.

"The process of making these, the Halloween costumes, it’s incredible," said Zack Bowersox, a senior lecturer in political science at Washington University in St. Louis who teaches a class on fast fashion and the environment.

Instead of traditional stitching, costume components are frequently heat bonded by melting the plastic edges together. "After the season, they’re not meant to even be thrifted or returned, they’re just meant to be thrown away. And that’s where most of them end up, it’s in the landfill. Something like 80% of those suits end up in the landfill," Bowersox said.

Miller pointed out that consumers can celebrate Halloween without purchasing disposable outfits.

"Whenever we buy anything, we’re not just buying the one thing, we’re buying all of the environmental impacts of everything that went into making that product," Miller said. "So whenever we’re using any sort of single-use product, whether we’re talking about single-use plastic or single-use costumes, we really have to be thinking about is this really how we want to spend our time, money, resources, and is there a better way?"

Lexy Silverstein, a sustainable fashion advocate, created the Ultimate Halloween Swap last year after reflecting on the money and resources spent on outfits worn for only a few hours before being discarded.

An avid fan of the holiday who loves dressing up, she felt compelled to evaluate her own shopping habits.

"That’s a lot of costumes that I’m buying and wearing once and getting rid of," she told herself, before considering how other recurring occasions, such as back-to-school season, also spur high consumer spending.

Her inaugural swap gathered hundreds of donated costumes, including 10 boxes supplied by the LA Clippers basketball team. Following that initial success, she expanded the initiative across Southern California, including the Occidental College event where Sandoval picked up his shark suit. Silverstein now aims to organize swaps for other high-consumption periods, such as back-to-school drives, prom season, and winter coat exchanges.

Washington University in St. Louis has developed a similar program. Its campus thrift store relies on items gathered during student move-out periods, when clothing and accessories are often abandoned. For the second year in a row, the university hosted a pop-up market allowing students and staff to purchase pre-owned costumes at low cost.

Cassie Hage, the university's assistant director at the Office of Sustainability, said this year's inventory included Austin Powers outfits, kiwi costumes, a demon character from the television series "Stranger Things", and matching platypus onesies that delighted a group of friends who found them.

"They were kind of dancing around" in them, she said. "That was just a really fun moment to watch."

Experts note that thrifting, joining clothing swaps, and raiding wardrobes belonging to friends or family members are effective strategies to avoid buying new items. Costumes can be pieced together from everyday clothes or existing items modified for a fresh look. Silverstein also suggests exploring rental choices on resale platforms such as Facebook Marketplace, Depop, and Poshmark.

If buying a new item is unavoidable, Bowersox suggests selecting accessories or garments made from plant-derived fibers like cotton or linen. Although officially licensed goods may cost more, he noted they frequently offer greater transparency regarding where and how they were produced.

Alison Linder, assistant sustainability coordinator at Occidental College—which hosts its own thrift shop featuring seasonal items—encouraged people to set up local exchanges with classmates, neighbors, or friends.

"It’s just as easy as asking your friends for a loan and offering to share what you have," she said. "And just by doing that simple thing, you save money and you’re helping the environment."