Halloween costumes will create 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste this year, an investigation has found, as trick or treaters are being urged to buy second hand fancy dress.

Assessing the composition of 324 Halloween clothing items from 19 major retailers, nature charity The Fairyland Trust, supported by environmental charity Hubbub, found 83 per cent of the materials used were made from oil-based plastic - equating to 83 million plastic bottles.

The Fairyland Trust surveyed costumes from; Aldi, Argos, ASOS, Amazon, Boden, Boohoo, Ebay, H&M, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Matalan, Next, PrettyLittleThing, Sainsburys, Tesco, TK MAXX, Topshop, Wilko and Zara.

The “great majority” of which were made “mainly or wholly” from polyester, they said.

Polyester, similar to nylon and acrylic, is made entirely from oil and behaves as a “persistent pollutant” in the environment in the form of microplastics, the report said.