Themed club nights are an unspoken rule of university life, perhaps it’s the childlike wonder of playing dress-up or the hilarity at seeing everyone dressed ridiculously, shivering in the dead of winter, wearing hotpants that offer no protection.
However, after a night on the town where do all these costumes go?
If not to the back of your wardrobe; the tragic answer is into landfill.
A fun night clubbing eventually ends in an array of sparkly cowboy hats sitting atop a pile of black bin bags taking up to 200 years to decompose.
A study from Student Beans found that fancy dress costumes create almost 6,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year.
This shocking statistic means that themed club nights produce the equivalent amount of plastic to 226 million coke bottles.
This is a national issue, with an average of 42% of University students being involved in a society; members attend approximately 30 socials over the academic year, each week with a different costume that is binned afterwards meaning around 19 million costumes are disposed of over the academic year.
The fashion industry is already one of the biggest factors in climate change and the environmental cost of making any item of clothing still applies to the costume industry.
The carbon emissions and water usage used to make the item are damaging the environment before the single use costume is even worn.
83% of materials used in synthetic costumes are oil-based plastics which are non-biodegradable, and most costume manufacturers opt for creating costumes from plastic-based material such as polyester rather than using plastic free alternatives such as cotton.
Fast fashion and sustainability expert Rose Marroncelli, PhD researcher and lecturer in International Fashion Business at Nottingham Trent University, said that: “University is a time when many students experiment with fashion, and indeed fancy dress. Identity exploration and simply ‘having fun’ through wearing different outfits are key aspects of the university experience for many students.”
She adds that the fun doesn’t have to end due to climate-anxiety inducing statistics.
“It doesn’t mean, ‘stop going out in fancy dress,’ but a more considered approach is needed towards plastic waste and throwaway fashion. We are in an environmental crisis, and students should be mindful about buying a fancy dress outfit, only to be thrown in the bin the next day.”
Rose’s position at a university gives her an insight into how students can avoid adding to the waste.
She finished: “Buying second-hand and buying to last are two alternative shopping habits which could be adopted. This applies to both fancy dress, and clothes shopping in general.”
Buying a more sustainable option is often perceived as a difficult or expensive option, however alternative ways of eco-friendly shopping have been introduced especially for students.
Hazaar is a second-hand marketplace app built for students, so far it has been launched in four university cities in the UK: Nottingham, Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham.
Harriet Noy, 23, the CEO said they are “trying to make sustainability the cheapest and easiest option for students,” because “no one will change their bad habits until it is easy and cheap, which is quite sad really, but it’s a struggle with ease and affordability for most people.”
Harriet founded Hazaar during her second year at Birmingham University where she noticed that societies would attend weekly themed club nights and saw that her friends would opt for fast fashion sites with next day delivery rather than swapping or making their own costumes.
Harriet said: “It was stupid because we didn’t need to buy new, everyone could just circulate the costumes as a lot of the societies alternate themes.”
While Harriet is promoting student sustainability, she says she doesn’t think costume nights will end anytime soon.
She continued: “It’s a big part of university culture and such a fun element. I don’t think there will be a shift, but hopefully there is a change in people no longer buying new costumes.”
Although the app was founded to act against costume waste Harriet admits they are yet to see many costumes being sold despite clothing being the most popular category of sales.
She finished: “What started as an app is now trying to create a circular economy with students at the forefront of everything.”
As well as reselling or re-wearing costumes there can also be a creative element to reduce waste.
If you buy items to create a do-it-yourself costume it means you can re-wear items of clothing to create other looks or for everyday purposes.
It is also a great way to recycle old fabrics and save money.
Charity shops and second-hand stores can be a great place to start as they sell clothing at a discounted price.
An example of this are the White Rose stores, a chain of twelve shops across Nottingham that hand pick second-hand items to sell in their charity shops who aim to encourage and develop the recycling community, while reducing the amount of textile waste entering landfills.
Lucy Eadson, 33, manager at White Rose 5 said: “People can definitely create their own costumes from items we sell. Although we don’t get themed stock, we just have general donations that can be reworked.”
Lucy added that there is a sale area in each shop that can help students with budgeting as they have a variety of fabrics that can be fashioned into a costume.
She says charity shops are a great alternative to a traditional fancy dress store.
“I think it is a good idea to donate your old costumes because obviously it helps us, it’s great to support charities and it makes sure it’s not going to landfill it’s always best to give a piece of clothing a second life.”
Next time you get invited to a themed club night you may consider a more sustainable alternative; a second-hand marketplace, charity shop, or borrowing from a friend.
Try to remember that your pub golf visor can take up to 200 years to decompose in landfill.