Cadbury owner Mondelez says it removed over 1000 tonnes of virgin plastic last year.
The confectionery giant said that due to “positive packaging changes” it has been able to remove the virgin plastic.
Cadbury Milk Tray and Cadbury’s Christmas selection boxes are now made up of 80% recycled rigid plastic while the outer cellophane plastic wrapping has also been removed from Cadbury Milk Tray products.
The move to remove virgin plastic is part of Mondelez’s efforts to cut virgin plastic – which is manufactured from previously unused materials, meaning it takes a bigger toll on the environment – in rigid plastic packaging by at least 25% and in all plastic packaging by 5% by 2025.
Later this year, Mondelez will initiate the next phase of its packaging strategy as it plans to replace the rPET used in Christmas selection box trays with carboard.
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Previous packaging changes undertaken by Mondeleiz include Cadbury Dairy Milk 110g sharing bars now including 30% certified recycled plastic within its packaging.
The moves form part of the firm’s ‘Pack Light and Right’ sustainable packaging strategy and part of its wider global ambitions to reduce virgin plastic packaging by 5% by 2025.
Mondelez International UK sustainability lead Joanna Dias said: “I am proud to see even more positive changes being made to packaging across Mondelez’s portfolio, the innovation and drive from the business to make a significant difference and achieve its ambitious net-zero targets is clear to see.
“At Mondelez we want to accelerate the impact and meaningful change we can make as business, and projects such as this to reduce the amount of virgin plastic in a number of our products demonstrates just that.”
Mondelez International came in the bottom half of a global survey ranking companies on issues such as transparency and traceability, deforestation and child labour.
