DENVER (KDVR) — As kids go out trick-or-treating this Halloween night, parents and guardians might be worried about how many treats those kids might be eating, but something you might want to consider is the waste created by those candy wrappers.

JOY Fill, a zero-waste shop in west Denver, is helping locals recycle their Halloween candy wrappers.

The program is called Trick or Trash, also called Trash or Treasure, and it’s part of a nationwide effort. The goal is to get people to recycle Halloween candy wrappers instead of sending them to the landfill.

In 2020, the program diverted more than 7,000 lbs of waste from going to the landfill.

The campaign, now in its third year, provides safe and easy-to-assemble recycling boxes to schools and small businesses, as well as a critical educational component, co-created by Rubicon and the National Wildlife Federation.

JOY Fill owner Brittany Iseli said curbside recycling doesn’t cover the plastics included in candy packaging.

“Most recycling curbside recycling does not accept, like, soft plastics, so like plastic bags,” Iseli said. “Candy wrappers like the multi-layered materials with like the foil inside so those are definitely not curbside recyclable either. That is why we do offer the program year-round here at Joy Fill to have a way to responsibly dispose of those items.”

Rubicon takes the candy wrappers and crushes them into pellets to make other products — like park benches.

The shop will start this program on Nov. 1. Anyone can bring candy wrappers to JOY Fill and recycle them for free through the month of November.

After that, you can still recycle wrappers for a small fee per ounce. JOY Fill is open 10 – 6 every day at 4340 W. 35th Ave., Denver.