Nestle has announced that it's making a major change to its Quality Street packaging ahead of the festive period.
After 86 years, the shiny plastic and foil wrappers will be removed from Quality Street chocolates to reduce waste going to landfill. The new wrappings will be made from a vegetable-based wax, and will hit the streets in the next few weeks.
Nestle head of sustainability, Cheryl Allen, said: "We know that opening the lid and seeing 'the jewels', as we call them, is really important. We think we've done a really good job with the redesign and feel confident that people will respond positively."
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Research revealed that the packaging of popular Christmas chocolates can make up almost half their total weight. Which? found that 42% of some chocolate boxes are made up of packaging, while some consumers were confused about recycling symbols on the packaging.
Just under half (48%) wrongly identified the green dot that is regularly found on packaging as a sign that the packaging can be recycled, when it actually means that the manufacturer pays into a recycling scheme and the packaging may not be suitable for recycling.
Nikki Stopford, director of research and publishing at Which?, said: “For many of us the indulgent look of these festive chocolate boxes is synonymous with the Christmas season. We are more aware than ever of the impact that we’re having on the world around us so we want our research to help people to make the right choices for them and to understand how to dispose of packaging in the most eco-friendly manner.”
Recycling advice:
1. Foil wrappers can be recycled but you need to make a bundle of at least 4cm in diameter for it to be identified at the recycling centre.
2. The plastic tubs containing Celebrations, Roses, Quality Street, Heroes, Morrisons Mega Mix and Chocolate Treats by Sainsbury’s are made of PET 1. This is the same plastic that water and soft drinks bottles are made of. Easily recycled, this is collected by 99% of local authorities.
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