Fancy munching a few Easter eggs this weekend? Well you will have to work your way through all the packaging first - all 60 per cent of it to be exact according to new reports.
Some companies have tried to be a bit more saintly when it comes to the round chocolate delights, with efforts to cut down on this year’s range of cardboard and plastic adorning the eggs. Overall the combined efforts have reduced the average weight of an egg by 33 per cent, so says Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson who carried out a survey on the statistics.
The winner of the most environmentally conscious egg manufacturers is Nestle, who have cut their packaging by a massive 25 per cent in just one year. On the other end of the spectrum though, those irresponsible folks at Terry’s have actually increased the amount of padding they give their eggs. Swiss expert chocolate makers Lindt were responsible for producing the most wasteful eggs, with their Easter wares being made up of 91 per cent packaging - shameful - think of the trees!
Ms Swinson has been on the case of the wasteful products with a campaign launched since 2007, and despite the efforts of some manufacturers, a lot more needs to be done, she says.
“While it is encouraging that the amount of packaging used for Easter eggs has gone down, they remain one of the most excessively packaged and wasteful products available,” she said.
“On average the Easter eggs still take up only 40 per cent of their packaging, so there is still more that can be done to reduce it even more. It is also important to make sure not just that packaging is reduced, but that it is recyclable and that is made clear to consumers. The progress that has been made in the past year is encouraging, but manufacturers must go much further.”
The results of the survey do show an improvement however, after 10 eggs were weighed, and on average the packaging was coming in at 84g in 2007, 82.6g in 2008 then all the way down to 45.7g this Easter - a result to be proud of.
Some manufacturers are tapping into consumer conscious, knowing how significant eco-friendly products are these days and thus advertising campaigns are making a song and dance about it. Nestle and Green & Black’s have taken it one eco step further by cutting out all the plastic in their eggs, and using cardboard only, which is much more likely to be recycled. Hooray for them. Happy chomping, guilt free (well, almost if you don’t count the calories, ho hum).
