Easter eggs unwrapped: Which? reveals the chocolate eggs with the most packaging

Packaging makes up a quarter on average of the total weight of best-selling Easter eggs, according to analysis by Which?.

A new Which? investigation has compared the top 10 best-selling branded Easter eggs, weighing their packaging, so that consumers can be aware of which chocolate treat leaves you with the least cardboard and plastic to dispose of this holiday.

Thornton’s Classic Large Egg uses the most packaging compared to the other Easter eggs Which? investigated. The packaging of this egg makes up 36.4 per cent of the total weight. This was followed by the Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Egg with a packaging weight percentage of 28.1 per cent. Also coming in just  above the 25 per cent average are the Mars Milk Chocolate Easter Egg and Chocolate Bar and Cadbury Creme Giant Egg, at 25.5 and 25.1 per cent respectively.

The egg with the least packaging of the ten we investigated was the Cadbury Twirl Large Easter Egg. This egg’s packaging made up just 18.8 per cent of the total weight. It’s also packaged almost entirely in cardboard meaning that most of it can be recycled. Only the two chocolate bar wrappers, which weigh less than a gram together, can’t head to the recycling bin.

Find out how your favourite fares in our packaging ranking below:

Easter egg Weight in packaging Chocolate weight Packaging weight Percentage packaging
Thorntons Classic Large Egg 418g 264g 152g 36.4%
Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Egg with truffles 420g 302g 118g 28.1%
Mars Milk Chocolate Easter Egg and Chocolate Bar 188g 142g 48g 25.5%
Cadbury Creme Giant Egg 668g 502g 168g 25.1%
Cadbury Mini Eggs Extra Large Easter Egg 380g 288g 92g 24.2%
Cadbury Dairy Milk Extra Large Easter Egg 678g 522g 156g 23%
Galaxy Milk Chocolate Indulgent Collection Easter Egg 418g 322g 94g 22.5%
Maltesers Large Teasers Easter Egg 342g 268g 74g 21.6%
Cadbury Wispa Large Easter Egg 344g 274g 70g 20.3%
Cadbury Twirl Large Easter Egg 362g 290g 68g 18.8%

 

A few years ago chocolate eggs made headlines for the shocking addition they made to landfill at Easter time. But manufacturers have made amends since then. Almost all of the packaging we looked at in this investigation could be recycled. From plastic to cardboard, the majority of what you rip off to get your hands on the chocolate can be collected by recycling workers as part of the kerbside collection service. The only things that couldn’t be recycled were chocolate bar wrappers and plastic windows.

Nikki Stopford, Director of Research at Which?, said:

“The UK produces around 11.5 million tonnes of packaging waste every year, and much of this comes from food and drink packaging. Our investigation helps shoppers wanting to cut down on their waste make better decisions this Easter.

“It’s great to see that some manufacturers have taken on board concerns about excessive packaging and that chocolate lovers can enjoy their eggs without too much compromise.”

Notes to Editors:

11.5 million tonnes figures taken from this report: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683051/UK_Statisticson_Waste_statistical_notice_Feb_2018_FINAL.pdf

Research methodology:

  • We analysed the following eggs: Thornton’s Classic Large Easter egg 258g, Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Easter Egg with truffles 215g, Cadbury Creme Giant Egg 496g, Mars Milk Chocolate Easter Egg and Chocolate Bar 141g, Cadbury Mini Eggs Extra Large Easter Egg 286g, Cadbury Dairy Milk Extra Large Easter Egg 515g, Galaxy Milk Chocolate Indulgent Collection Easter Egg 308g, Malteasers Large Teasers Easter Egg 248g, Cadbury Wispa Large Easter Egg 269g and Cadbury Twirl Large Easter Egg 282g.
  • To find out how the chocolate and packaging compared, we weighed all of the Easter eggs in their packaging. Then we weighed them completely unwrapped out of their packaging and finally weighed the packaging on its own. To make sure we were getting accurate results we even unwrapped individual chocolates so only the chocolate was weighed.
  • We then worked out what could and couldn’t be recycled and how the weight of the packaging compared to the weight of the chocolate and the overall weight of the item.

Materials and recycling:

  • The plastic that comes with Easter eggs is usually PET 1, the same type of plastic that bottles are made of. This can easily be recycled by 99% of local authorities so add this to your recycling pile.
  • Foil is also recyclable. Recycle Now, the national recycling campaign for England, recommends cleaning it and scrunching it up into a ball. The bigger the foil ball the easier it is to recycle. One reason to stop you feeling so guilty if you’ve been a bit gluttonous with your egg consumption.
  • For more advice on recycling and what you can and can’t recycle head over to Recycle Now’s website.

 

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