Nestlé has announced that Quality Street is moving to recyclable FSC-Certified paper packaging worldwide. Simultaneously, KitKat will launch wrappers made with 80 percent recycled plastic.
Quality Street is scrapping the dual foil and cellulose packaging that usually covers its chocolates for recyclable FSC-certified paper packaging.
This will remove almost 2.5 billion individual pieces of packaging material from its supply chain globally and follows Nestlé’s announcement in 2020 to make 100 percent of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.
The transition has required new materials, coating technologies, printing techniques and the adaptation of existing equipment. Nestlé’s Confectionary Research and Development Centre in York, UK has been working with the Swiss-based Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences to develop this.
“With nine different sweets to consider, the transition has been a huge undertaking,” said Head of the Nestlé Confectionary Product Technology Centre, Louise Barrett. “Each of our existing machines need to be adapted to run on paper and then rigorously tested by our packaging experts to ensure we’re still delivering the same quality consumers expect when they open a box of Quality Street.”
The only flavours that will remain in their original wrappers are Orange Crunch and the Green Triangle, as they can already be recycled in their current form.
Barrett continued: “Quality Street made history from the start, using the world’s first twist-wrapping machine to revolutionise the way chocolates were manufactured and sold. Now we are making history again with the introduction of paper packaging for our famous sweets. We hope the fact that our famous sweets are now recyclable will make finding your own Quality Street favourites even more popular this year.”
Nestlé’s KitKat brand will also see its wrappers made with 80% recycled plastic. The rollout will begin this month on the brand’s two-finger products, before being extended across the entire range by 2024.
The new KitKat packs will also feature the Recycle At Store On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL) – a UK labelling scheme established by the British Retail Consortium to help consumers correctly reuse and recycle more material. The packaging details information about the platform launched by the national WRAP recycling campaign ‘Recycle Now’, which guides consumers to their nearest recycling point, titled the Recycling Locator Tool.
