Best Easter Eggs Should Be Low On Wrapping

OXFORDSHIRE County Council and keen recyclers from all over the county have worked together to identify the best and worst Easter Eggs for wasteful packaging.
Organisations all over the country have been calling on companies that produce consumer goods to cover them with less packaging and therefore save on waste and raw materials. Easter Eggs are often packaged extravagantly with cardboard and plastics.
Waste managers at Oxfordshire County Council joined forces with members of Community Action Groups (CAGs) in the county to investigate the situation.

Community Action Groups are made up of residents who work within Oxfordshire communities to save resources and reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill sites.

The CAGs were the first of their kind in the country and were set up by Resource Futures in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council. The model is now being copied in other parts of Britain.

What were the findings?

The best egg was produced by Sainsbury’s and contained more than 80% confectionary as part of its overall weight.
The worst egg was a Nestle Kit Kat product that was nearly 50% packaging.
A locally produced egg, made by the Cake Shop in the Oxford Covered Market, was one of the top performers at nearly 80% confectionary. It came in a box that could be re-used as a container or for a child’s craft activity and the packaging was made entirely from cardboard making it easy to recycle.
The full report, containing details of all the eggs we examined is available online at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/waste
Councillor Roger Belson, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “Easter is another time of year when the amount of waste packaging produced is phenomenal. I am sure that nobody would mind in the least if Easter Eggs came with as little packaging as possible. After all its the chocolate that people want!

“Organisations from all over the country, including ourselves and our Community Action Groups, will keep up the pressure on consumer goods producers to cut back on ridiculous over packaging. In the meantime it would be wonderful if people in Oxfordshire made their Easter Egg selections with a view to favouring those that aren’t extravagantly packaged.”