Hundreds and hundreds of candy and candy wrappers will have a second life, thanks to the initiative of a Sherbrookoise. In about forty collection points, people are invited to drop the packaging of chocolates, sweets and candies in boxes provided for this purpose. Mother of two children who no longer spend Halloween, Hélène Boissonneault is well placed to know that this popular festival has an important ecological footprint. Her research led her to TerraCycle, an American company that gives life back to this waste, which is not recyclable. The co-founder of Effect Ph, also a speaker, will send all the content collected to the company by mail. The packaging could, at the end of the process, turn into park benches and watering cans, Ms. Boissonneault notes. The one who is also a speaker follows several zero waste groups. People want to reduce their footprint on Halloween is present, she says, adding that his initiative has quickly attracted interest. "In Estrie, we have more than 40 points of fall. The list continued to rise yesterday (Thursday) morning. We wanted to test whether it was going to work. The test works! Commented the one who co-founded the company with Pascal Fredette. The company's mission is "to inspire people to gradually adopt a minimalist lifestyle, to move towards zero waste and benefit from decluttering."   Among participating schools, the Deux-Rives school in Sherbrooke, in the Brompton area, decided to make a collection point. Teacher Nancy Harrison heard about the social media initiative and decided to involve her school; she, too, is well placed to see the mountains of paper that can accumulate the day after Halloween. The initiative also raises students' awareness, notes the school's vice-principal, Daniel Bédard. The school is one of the participating schools in a pilot composting project. A tray will be installed in each class. In particular, snacks and dinner leftovers will be able to avoid landfill. "We will have to do education, explain what goes in the compost bin and what is wrong," says Bédard. "The students will do most of the management. They are the ones who will collect the compost. "   The project will first be launched in the Academy Pavilion of the Sacred Heart, where are the major from fourth to sixth grade. "It will start in the Academy pavilion at first. We'll see how we can export it to the other pavilion. "   A new committee has been created to work on this project and to educate children about environmental values. This committee is composed of Mr. Bédard, parents and teachers. "It is rare for committees to be composed of parents and teachers other than the governing board and the OPP (parent participation organization). "   The school has approximately 536 students, including some 237 students at the Académie Sacré-Cœur Pavilion.