Nestle Gets Recyclable Packaging for Quality Street Brand, Keeps 2.5B Wrappers Away from Landfills

Quality Street chocolate, a Nestle brand, now comes in recyclable packaging, preventing 2.5 billion wrappers from ending up in landfills.

The most recognizable chocolates in the UK are being given an eco-friendly makeover. Quality Street chocolates won't be sold in colorful plastic and foil packaging after 86 years.

The Nestlé-produced treats will instead be packaged in reusable waxed paper. The action will aid in lowering the annual amount of 2.5 billion sweet wrappers that are disposed of in landfills. For Nestlé, which has previously faced criticism for its significant plastic footprint, it is a step in the right direction.

Along with PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Unilever, the company was listed as one of the top four global plastic polluters in a report by the environmental NGO Break Free From Plastic in 2021.

From Iconic to Eco-Friendly

Over the upcoming weeks and months, the new packaging will gradually be introduced. All but the Green Triangle and Orange Crunch of the eleven well-known Quality street chocolates will come in the new packaging.

The colors used to represent the various types of chocolate will not change.

Cheryl Allen, the organization's head of sustainability, claims that Nestlé, the company that owns Quality Street, thought carefully about its choice.

Allen went on to say that Quality Street is a product line that people have strong feelings about and that they are aware that it is crucial to open the lid and reveal "the jewels," as the candies are commonly referred to.

Additionally, according to Allen, they did a fantastic job with the redesign and are confident that customers will be pleased.

Additionally, KitKats will be made more eco-friendly with packaging made of 80% recycled plastic.

Can't Please Everybody

The action benefits the environment. Campaigners, however, fault Quality Street's parent company Nestlé for additional unethical and environmental transgressions.

A UK consumer group called Ethical Consumer criticizes the company's sourcing strategy for cocoa.

Ethical Consumer anticipated that 100% of chocolate products would be certified, whereas Nestlé source 44% of cocoa through its Cocoa Plan.

Other products are not sourced through the Quality Street brand's Cocoa Plan, but all of the chocolate used in its products is.

Additionally, Nestlé received the lowest possible score from the organization for its treatment of animals, factory farming, and animal testing.

A company representative told Ethical Consumer that Nestlé shares people's concerns about animal testing and plans to use only cage-free eggs for all of its food products globally by 2025.

Nestle stated that to uphold their ethical and legal obligations, they are dedicated to minimizing the use of animal testing and think it should only occur in the most extreme circumstances.

Social Media Support

On social media, Quality Street supporters have posted varying opinions about the new packaging, with many praising the improvement.

Nestle's packaging decision received a "Yasssss" from one commenter who praised it as being excellent, while another added that it was about time.

Not everyone on Twitter, though, was as enthusiastic, and many people voiced their disapproval of the new packaging.

Quality street will now be wrapped in a waxy recyclable paper. It will save 2billion bits of wrapping going to landfill but, as my daughter said, when she opened the sample tin and saw the new, dull wrappers “What have they done!” pic.twitter.com/sxGJ1Shu0R
— Harry Wallop (@hwallop) October 2, 2022