Cadbury’s eco-friendly Easter egg packaging continues to improve

• Apr. 4 by Katie Fox (4)

It’s Easter Sunday, and it has become apparent that Cadbury are doing their bit for the environment this holiday season.

Birmingham-founded confectionary brand Cadbury produces more Easter Eggs each year than any other company.

Last year, Cadbury sold 42.6 million traditional ‘shell’ chocolate eggs- turning the attention of many to the potential environmental impact.

Confusion

While Cadbury have been promoting ‘green’ Easter products such as their reduced packaging ‘Treasure Eggs’, concerns have grown around how economical the packaging of this product really is.

Cadbury have announced that 60% of their Easter egg packaging is now biodegradable; but it remained unclear as to whether the plastic used in their Easter egg packaging was recycled or not.

Achievement

A worker in Cadbury’s Easter egg plant at the Bournville factory (which produces around 35 million of Cadbury’s Easter eggs each year) said:

‘The plant runs all year round. As far as I know everything is recycled- cardboard, plastic and the chocolate!’

‘The plant has now shut down for three months, as approximately £5 million is being spent on new machinery. The packing of the eggs will now mostly be done by robot, and automated machinery.’

This information raises new fears over possible job losses at the Birmingham factory; however it is refreshing to see that Cadbury are working towards being more environmentally-friendly.

The Cadbury employee was also able to divulge,

‘Mostly every year there is a cut-down on how much packaging is used, this year again.’

‘When up and running, next year’s eggs will contain no plastic at all inside the box. I know Cadbury do their best to keep packaging to a minimum.’

Cadbury’s green initiatives take a wholistic account of the environment, with fuel emissions considered too. The company maintain that recent packaging reductions of their Easter products have allowed them to take over 2290 lorry loads off the road.

Praise

The confectionary brand has also been acknowledged in Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson’s annual Easter egg packaging report. Cadbury was named as one of the brands praised for their environmental efforts, alongside Nestlé and Sainsbury’s own-branded eggs.