M&S is trialling its first paper packaging for chocolate bars, ditching plastic from its top-selling Vanilla Fudge flavoured variety.
The new packaging “maintains the unbeatable M&S quality”, according to the retailer, while being easier to recycle via kerbside collection or while on the go.
It said the change would remove 1.4 million units of plastic from its Food Halls over the next 12 months, and if successful would be rolled out to more chocolate bars, eliminating another five million units.
It is not the first to put chocolate in paper. Nestlé introduced a paper flow-wrap across its Smarties bars in early 2021, and premium brand Cox & Co last year developed flow-wrapped packaging for its range of single-origin chocolate bars.
“At M&S, we know our customers care deeply about reducing plastic packaging, and we’re committed to doing the right thing by finding packaging alternatives for our products,” said M&S Food head of sustainability Lucinda Langton.
“By making sure our products are in packaging which is as easy to recycle as possible, we are giving our customers the confidence that they can make more sustainable choices when shopping with us. This is also a key part of our Plan A roadmap to net zero, which will help us to meet our plastic reduction targets.”
It comes after M&S introduced cardboard packaging for its Perfectly Ripe Twin Avocado packs and Ripe Avocado lines earlier this month, removing a claimed seven million units of plastic.
The retailer also introduced new pots for porridge lines in its Food On The Move range last month, said to be more easily recyclable as the cardboard wrap will separate from the plastic pot during the recycling process without the customer needing to remove it.
M&S has committed to removing one billion units of plastic by the end of March 2028, as part of its Plan A roadmap to net zero by 2040, which takes 2017 as its baseline year. It claims to be halfway to the plastic target already, with 500 million units removed by the end of March 2025.
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