Guide to Halloween Waste

Recycling Rules

Halloween typically ends in big, scary piles of waste. Follow these tips for proper disposal in the Sioux Falls area:

1. Candy Wrappers are Not Recyclable: Unfortunately, plastic and foil candy wrappers are NOT recyclable. When purchasing candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters, look for cardboard box options instead and go for bulk to avoid excess packaging.

2. Make a Costume, Swap it, or Buy Used: Swap your old costume with a friend, by a used one from a thrift store, or find something from your closet! Fabric is not allowed in the Sioux Falls recycling bin, but it is reusable- so make sure to donate any old costumes to your local thrift stores so they can be reused.

3. Carve & Eat your Pumpkin (Skip the paint): After you carve the pumpkin, roast the seeds and use the insides to make a pie or soup, then compost the rest at the City of Sioux Falls drop off sites. Reducing the organic materials (like food waste) in the landfill directly reduces the production of methane gas. Make sure to skip the paint though, many paints contain chemicals that cannot be composted. Pumpkins are not allowed in the recycling bin.

4. Compost Pumpkins and Leaves: Pumpkins, gourds, branches and leaves are NOT allowed in your recycling bin. Add them to the compost pile instead of the trash to reduce waste in the landfill.

5. Reuse Decorations & Keep it Natural: A good storage tub will keep your decor and costumes in great shape to be reused over and over. Use pumpkins, gourds and other natural decor like branches and leaves that can be added to the compost pile instead of the trash at the end of the season. If you do end up throwing out decorations – natural or not, please keep them out of your Sioux Falls recycling bin, we can only process accepted single stream items.

6. Use a pillow case for Trick or Treating: Skip the store-bought treat buckets and use a reusable grocery bag or a pillowcase instead. They fit way more treats and are less likely to be tossed in the trash since they can be used year-round. If the pillow case or reusable bag gets ruined however, please keep fabric out of the recycling bin.

7. Candy Leftovers: Candy is typically not compostable, but it could be frozen to save for later or turned into something new! For example, chocolates could be turned into candy bark and hard candies could be used as cake and cookie toppers for the holidays. If you do end up throwing it out, please keep candy and food waste out of your Sioux Falls recycling bin.


Thank you for helping Sioux Falls recycle as much as possible! If you have questions on specific items, check out the recycling search tool or download our simple recycling guide.