How to make more sustainable Halloween candy choices
Additionally, many of the individually wrapped candies that are plucked from bowls at parties or lugged home at the end of the night contribute to the spooky holiday’s waste problem.
“Halloween should actually be called Plasticween,” says Judith Enck, a former senior environmental protection official under Barack Obama who now heads Beyond Plastics’ advocacy group. Although costumes and decorations are major sources of plastic, the overabundance of non-recyclable candy wrappers is also a concern. Overall, Enck says, the holiday is “a plastic and waste disaster.”
But Enck and other experts stress that cutting vacations is not the solution. “I would strongly oppose canceling Halloween,” she says.
“I have very fond memories of trick or treating as a kid. My kids had wonderful trick-or-treating times,” adds Carolyn Dimitri, an applied economist and associate professor of food studies at New York University. “It’s our culture, our custom – we give away candy on Halloween.”
So if you’re among the roughly two-thirds of Americans planning to give out candy this year, experts recommend treating the planet with your choices — rather than tricking it.
Understand the effects of candy
“It’s important for consumers that with every product they buy, they do research on where it comes from, how it’s made, and what the product’s environmental and social impact is,” said Alexander Ferguson, vice president of Communication and membership of the non-profit World Cocoa Foundation.
The environmental, climate and social impacts of popular confectionery products are largely linked to two common ingredients, experts say: cocoa and palm oil – both found in chocolate.
“In terms of sustainability, the biggest confectionary concern is chocolate,” says Etelle Higonnet, an environmental and human rights expert who helped prepare the first environmental footprint for chocolate.
Companies typically source cocoa and palm oil from tropical areas that are often inhabited by people in less economically developed communities, Dimitri says. According to some estimates, about 70 percent of the world’s cocoa comes from West Africa, while around 90 percent of the world’s palm oil trees are grown on a handful of islands in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The production of cocoa and palm oil has led to the deforestation of critical rainforests, which poses problems for the climate and biodiversity, says Buchanan. West Africa’s Ivory Coast, for example, has lost 80 percent of its forests since 1970.
Preserving these rainforests can help the world meet its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels, he adds.
“Deforestation and land-use change are such big drivers of emissions around the world,” says Buchanan. “Even if we had a 100 percent perfect solution for green energy and … decarbonization, if you decarbonize the economy tomorrow, we still have to be considerate of nature if we want to stay below 1.5 degrees of warming. The global community needs to address emissions from fossil fuels as well as emissions related to wildlife loss and land use.”
Cocoa and palm oil are also linked to human rights issues, including forced labor and child labor.
Aside from measures to provide living wages for cocoa farmers, many of whom are paid only around US$1 a day or less, major chocolate makers like Mars, Nestlé and Hershey have pledged to stop using cocoa harvested by children. But difficulties in tracing cocoa back to farms mean companies often can’t guarantee their chocolate is made without child labor, the Washington Post’s Peter Whoriskey and Rachel Siegel reported in 2019.
The chocolate industry is working to achieve better traceability rates, or knowing where a product came from, says Ferguson. “It sounds like a very simple thing, but it’s actually quite difficult when you have a lot of small farmers and a long and complicated supply chain.”
In addition, poverty underpins many of the labor issues affecting those involved in the manufacture of chocolate. Farmers often have to use their own children because they cannot afford workers.
“People tend to make inferences about the use of children in agriculture and I think it’s important to remember that for many families there is no other option,” says Dimitri.
One of the simplest actions affected consumers can take is to buy palm oil-free candy, says Dimitri.
“Palm oil is very popular because it has a really good mouthfeel and it’s very cheap,” she says. But it’s possible to find products without the pesky ingredient.
“Many confectionery manufacturers have tried to reformulate their products to not contain palm oil because of opposition,” she adds.
Check ingredient labels carefully as some products from the same brand still contain palm oil when other items do not.
Don’t boycott chocolate, better buy it
You could buy Halloween candy that doesn’t contain cocoa, but experts warn against boycotting chocolate entirely.
Cocoa is primarily produced by individual farmers running small operations, Buchanan says. “If there’s no market for cocoa, they’re going to be even worse off, so you’re certainly not going to address challenges like child labor by taking away an important source of income.”
Instead, Ferguson says, “Reward companies that try to do the right thing and stay engaged.”
Some experts recommend looking for third-party certification marks from groups like Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance to help differentiate products that meet certain ethical standards. While these certifications can be flawed and don’t guarantee a perfect product, experts say they’re often better than nothing.
“Given the complexities and challenges of what we’ve seen, I think there’s a real risk that the perfect becomes the enemy of the good,” says Buchanan.
However, buying certified chocolate means fewer options – and the sweets tend to be more expensive. For example, Tony’s Chocolonely, a company that sells Fairtrade certified chocolate, offers 100 individually wrapped chocolates for $48.69. Alter Eco also offers certified groceries, including boxes of 60 individually wrapped truffles for $49.99.
Higonnet also directs consumers to resources like the Chocolate Scorecard, which surveys major chocolate companies and ranks them on criteria such as traceability and transparency, living income, child labor, and deforestation and climate, among others. Overall, according to the 2022 scorecard, several major brands offering cheaper candies are “starting to implement good policies.”
“The best thing, whether you’re buying from a big company or a small one, is to push them and ask them what they’re doing to be part of the solution,” says Buchanan. “It’s not that easy to just go to small specialist companies. These companies have their role and can do things differently with the way they work, but they also have a small footprint. We also need the big companies.”
It’s also important to try to reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste and uneaten candy that gets thrown away. Remember, you can donate unopened Halloween candy to organizations that send treats to soldiers and first responders, or to local community causes. But be sure to check the donation requirements. Homemade items, for example, are often not accepted.
Many candy wrappers aren’t generally recyclable, says Enck of Beyond Plastics, which provides a tip sheet on reducing plastic use during Halloween. If possible, she suggests buying candy in bulk and packing it in paper bags that can be recycled. Some popular candies like Nerds, Dots and Junior Mints can also come individually wrapped in recyclable boxes.
While candy doesn’t stay good forever, they can stay safe and edible longer than you might think, says Gregory Ziegler, a professor of food science at Pennsylvania State University who specializes in chocolate and confectionery.
“From a safety standpoint, sweets are pretty safe,” says Ziegler. “It’s very low in moisture for the most part, and a lot of sugar really protects it from a lot of microbial growth that could make it unsafe.”
But, he notes, there’s a difference between safe and edible. Most candy’s shelf life ends due to texture or flavor changes that can affect enjoyment, he says. For example, when chocolate melts and hardens again, it can develop a white tinge known as bloom, which isn’t harmful but can make the candy taste bad.
Ziegler recommends storing Halloween candy in a dry, sealed container. You can also put sweets in the freezer or refrigerator. “Almost all of the reactions that cause sweets to spoil slow down the lower the temperature.”
Most candies should last six months, he says. “If you treat it right, maybe longer.”