Sustainable Seasonal Celebrations
There are many ways to make your seasonal celebrations more sustainable. Check out our top tips below offering a range of suggestions you may like to try.
If you have some top tips you'd like to share please contact our Sustainability team and we can add them to these pages.
Diwali is the festival of lights. Celebrated at the start of the Hindu New Year, it symbolises the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance . It’s celebrated by millions of people around the world from several different faiths including Hindus, Sikhs and Jains.
Families celebrate by decorating their home with lights, giving eachother gifts and sweets, offering pujas (prayers), shared meals, and enjoying fireworks. As with many of our seasonal festivities these events can often generate a lot of waste. Here below are a few tips for making your Diwali celebrations as green and sustainable as possible.
Reduce Food Waste
- Plan out your meals and make sure you store your food correctly to reduce wasting it. If you find yourself with extra, you can always share it with neighbours and friends!
Lights
- A great tip is to invest in rechargeable batteries to reduce your waste, but if you can’t, make sure you recycle them properly using the Council's free battery recycling service.
Clothing
- New clothes have a high impact on the environment. You can make your clothing choices more environmentally friendly by mixing up a new style from existing clothes, and keeping your clothes in good shape so they don’t get worn out and can be used year after year.
For more tips, see below
- https://www.lesswaste.org.uk/2024/10/21/celebrate-diwali-sustainably/
- https://thebetterindia.com/sustainability/sustainable-eco-friendly-green-diwali-gift-options-festival-celebration-10547909
- https://www.secret-retreats.com/blog/events/the-festival-of-lights-sustainable-diwali-experiences-in-indias-iconic-retreats.html
- https://fillmefeed.com/eco-friendly-diwali-sustainable-ways-to-celebrate-without-missing-the-fun/
- https://gosharpener.com/blogs/608059/Lighting-Up-Diwali-Responsibly-7-Sustainable-Ways-to-Celebrate-the
Annually celebrated on 31 October, Halloween in England is nowadays enjoyed by families and usually involves dressing up in scary costumes, giving out sweets (Trick or Treating), decorating carved pumpkins, parties or watching scary films! Much of this can be brought in the shops but there are many ways to be more creative, and sustainable, with your celebrations:
Costumes and decorations
Why not get creative, involve the kids, and make your costumes at home, re-purposing items like sheets, cardboard and other spare items around the house instead of buying expensive use-once costumes. You can also re-use decorations year after year instead of buying new ones every year and throwing the old ones away.
Sweets and treats
Buy treats for yourself or others from local retailers – we have vibrant markets and local traders throughout the District. Or have fun making your own!
Pumpkins
- Buy from a local farm. A Halloween staple, you can make your Halloween more sustainable by buying a pumpkin from a local farm to support local business and reduce your food miles. Try this website to find your local pick-your-own pumpkin farm. (https://sussexexclusive.com/pyo-pumpkins-in-sussex/
- Decorate your pumpkin: Decorating your pumpkin instead of carving it means the whole thing stays fresh until you’re ready to eat. There’s still loads of room for creativity, spookiness, and something to show off on your windowsill or doorstep. Need some inspiration? Here are 10 favourite ways to decorate yours.
- Make delicious pumpkin recipes: Don't throw away the delicious pumpkin after carving but make the most of it by checking out these delicious recipes. And don't forget that Halloween pumpkins are grown for size, not taste. Forget the myth that bigger is better and pick a smaller pumpkin this year, it'll be tastier to eat.
- Love Food Hate Waste - https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/good-food-habits/halloween-make-most-your-pumpkin
- BBC Good Food https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/pumpkin-recipes
Pumpkin recipe ideas
- Eat your pumpkin campaign, from Hubbub.org.uk - https://hubbub.org.uk/eat-your-pumpkin
For more tips, check out these weblinks below
- https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/10-green-halloween-tips
- https://www.asustainablelife.co.uk/how-to-have-a-sustainableish-halloween/
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/63075645
- https://greenecofriend.co.uk/eco-friendly-halloween/
- https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/oct/30/sustainable-halloween-conservation-tips
Bonfire Night can be great fun but it can also generate a significant amount of waste and environmental pollution. There are plenty of ways to enjoy Bonfire Night whilst also keeping your activities sustainable and reducing its environmental impact. Here are some of our top tips:
Go to a public display of fireworks
- Why not save yourself money and enjoy some spectacular fireworks by going to a public display instead of a private one. Not only are organised displays cleaned up properly, you will also have the joy of celebrating as a community and spending time with old friends and new!
Alternative fireworks
- Some types of fireworks are more sustainable than others. For example white burning ones and ground-level fireworks are easier to clean up and have less chemicals. And don’t forget to dispose of them safely! You might even be able to find a drone or light display instead.
Safe bonfires
- If you do want your own bonfire, don’t forget to only burn untreated wood so that you don’t release harmful chemicals. And don't forget to check for animals such as hedgehogs which love to hide under wood piles, before you light up!
Sky lanterns
- These lanterns, whilst pretty, are hazardous to both wildlife and the environment. Once they have fallen the lanterns become litter, and their metal frames can harm animals or start fires. Opt for safer, more eco-friendly alternatives, or better yet, skip them altogether.
For more tips, see below:
- Recycle Now - Eco friendly Bonfire night
- Burn Bright waste Light/
- how-to-prepare-for-bonfire-night/
- goodenergy.co.uk/blog/eco-friendly-bonfire-night/
- wildmag.co.uk/post/bonfire-night-done-right-wild-s-tips-to-enjoy-a-safe-sustainable-guy-fawkes-night-this-year
- lovefoodhatewaste.com/blog/7-bonfire-night-feast-ideas
Are you getting more conscious of keeping your Christmas green this year? You're not alone: plenty of us are looking for ideas to help us to reduce waste and energy, and recycle more during the festive period. Here are our top tips to help you go green and maybe save yourself some money too:
Top tips for an environmentally-friendly Christmas
- Go glitter free
Do you know about the wrapping paper test? If it scrunches it can be recycled, if it doesn't it needs to go in the general waste. Choose cards and wrapping that pass the scrunchtest and avoid those with glitter or foil that can’t be recycled - Get creative
Try to avoid buying new tinsel every year because it can’t be recycled. Why not try making your own decorations instead? Getting handy with craft activities can be a fun shared activity for you and your family and is a great way to save waste and save money compared with buying new - Repair or recycle small electricals
Have last year’s Christmas lights blown? Are you having a clear-out of broken electricals ahead of Christmas? Recycle them with our small electricals and textiles free collection service, or get them repaired at your local Repair Café. And perhaps this could be the year you switch to LED lights? LED lights use less energy, saving you money and helping the environment. - Recycle your soft plastics
Soft plastics cover all sorts of festive packaging, including film wrappers for biscuit trays, fruit and vegetable packaging, film lids and more. Did you know you can now take soft plastics to lots of local supermarkets in Horsham District? Have a look online to find your nearest scheme and read some more plastic recycling opportunities. - Avoid food waste
Plan out your Christmas food shop so you don’t waste a thing. 41.5% of the rubbish by weight in an average bin is made up of food waste. Check out Love Food Hate Waste’s handy tool for creating good food habits, which will not only #savewaste but will help your budget to go further! We will start collecting household food waste across the District in Spring 2026. - Battery care
Use rechargeable batteries and make sure you recycle single-use ones with our free batteries recycling service - Recycle your advent calendars
Don’t forget to recycle your disposable advent calendar after Christmas. Just separate the foil, plastic and card and pop it in your recycling bin. - Use a timer
Set your lights on a timer to save energy this year. Using less energy will also help you save money on your bills. - Buy Local, Gift Happy this year.
Consider buying locally this year. Many Horsham District businesses and shops are owned and run by local people, our neighbours and our friends. Let's support them by choosing to Buy Local, spend our money locally, support our high streets and support local people at a time when they most need it. - Gift food and drink
A top-tier zero-waste gift is food and drink! Make your own to save money or look to our fantastic local farm shops in the Horsham District for inspiration and hampers. If you buy or cook something tasty in recyclable packaging, there’ll be no waste at all!
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