There's a way to recycle all your Halloween snack wrappers

Waves of Changeis aCBCseries exploring the single-use plastic we're discarding, and why we need to clean up our act. You can be part of the community discussion by joiningour Facebook group.

For the environmentally conscious candy lover, there's a way to enjoy your haul a little more this Halloween by giving your snack wrappers a second life.

Waste managementcompany Terracycle specializes in handling hard-to-recycle household items, and that includes the debris left over from delicious Halloween treats.

"It's difficult to recycle candy and snack wrappers in the current system, because they are made of different combinations of plastic, foil and paper, which requires separating at a material level, in order to be recycled," saidVeronica Rajadnya, a content manager with the company.

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It's not just the material that makes wrappers tricky, said Rajadnya. Often the wrappers areso thin and tiny they can slip through the cracks of most recycling equipment.

"We kind of work around those limitations, to make sure all this material doesn't go to landfill and can see a second life," she told CBC'sNewfoundland Morning.

Eat, sort and mail

Terracycle'ssystem works by people mailing in their hard-to-recycle items. Some programs are free, but most like its snack wrapper service require an upfront cost to buy and ship a mail-in box, which can be done through the company's website.

After that, the next step is the easiest: eat the treat.

Once the hard work of consuming empty calories is done, collectthe empty wrappers into a Terracyclebox and mail it off. Chocolate and candy wrappers as well aschip bags are included in the program.

"If they're not dripping wet, or completely covered with melted chocolate, then a quick shake out of the snack wrapper will be good to go," said Rajadnya.

Terracycle'srecycling equipment then separates the various materials in the wrappers.

"We melt and pelletize them into little plastic pellets that we actually sell to companies that are using recycled plastic in their production," she said, adding the pellets have been used to make playgrounds, park benches, industrial pallets and a number of other items.

Drop off locations

Even buying the smallest collection box forTerracycle'ssnack program has a steep price tag: $86. Larger sizes cost up to $231.

But trick-or-treaters living near Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Gander andCorner Brook have another option: CBCstations in those communities are accepting snack wrappers until the end of November.

Those wrappers will then be sent off to Terracycle.

One other plastic-free Halloween option which may be too late if your doorbell is already buzzingis buying candies and chocolate that come in cardboard boxes: Junior Mints and Smarties are just two of the brands packaged this way.

And, if you feel like going down an unpopular road,there are always cardboard-boxedraisins.

Join the discussion on theCBCWaves of Change Facebook group, or email us:wavesofchange@cbc.ca.

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