Quality Street to ditch trademark plastic wrappers to be more eco-friendly

3 October 2022, 12:20 | Updated: 3 October 2022, 13:06

Christmas shoppers are going to see a huge change in the tub of their favourite festive chocolates this year in a bid to tackle the billions of sweet wrappers in landfills.

Quality Street chocolates are about to shed their famous brightly coloured wrappers, which have been in place for 86 years, as they make a bid to become more environmentally friendly.

Known for their shiny purple, pink and green wrappers, the festive chocolate box will be ditching the plastic foils for a waxed paper to ensure their materials are more recyclable.

But don't worry too much, the Quality Street colour system will remain in place with the Strawberry Delight still being wrapped in red and the Toffee Penny still covered in gold.

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The Green Triangle and Caramel Swirl, however, will remain the same as they're already wrapped in foil.

Talking about the decision to go more eco-friendly, Cheryl Allen, the head of sustainability at Nestle, said: "Quality Street is a brand that people feel very strongly about.

"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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And customers are already happy to hear about the change as one tweeted: "Thank you Quality Street. But shouldn’t this have become normal practice many years ago? We should maybe talk more about those not changing their ways."

So when will we see the change in boxes? Well, the roll out of the new recyclable designs will happen gradually over the coming months, so for now, don't be surprised if you're still finding the old ones in your boxes and tins.

Nestle has also confirmed another popular chocolate bar - the KitKat - will be undergoing an eco-makeover as wrappers will now be made of 80% recycled plastic.

These are all positive changes to help the current situation where two billion sweet wrappers end up in landfills every year.