Quality Street Introduces Recyclable Paper Wrappers
Nestlé S.A.
Quality Street, one of Nestlé's most popular confectionery brands in the United Kingdom and around the world, is offering recyclable FSC-certified paper packaging for its twist-wrapped sweets worldwide.
Quality Street's historic transition from dual foil and cellulose to recyclable paper wrappers will help eliminate nearly 2.5 billion individual pieces of packaging material from its global supply chain.
The transition to paper required extensive development in the engineering of new materials, coating technologies, printing techniques, and the adaptation of existing equipment by packaging experts at Nestlé's Confectionery Research and Development Center in York, UK, and the Swiss-based Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences.
Two varieties - Orange Crunch and Green - Triangle will be kept in their existing foil wrappers because they can already be recycled. The transition to new paper packaging for the nine remaining twist-wrapped sweets will take several months to complete. As a result, consumers should expect to see both old and new wrappers in their cartons, pouches, tubs, and tins until the end of the year.
Louise Barrett, Head of the Nestlé Confectionery Product Technology Centre in York, said:
"With nine different sweets to consider, the transition has been a huge undertaking. Each of our existing machines needs to be adapted to run 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.
"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."
Quality Street has been produced in Halifax, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, since 1936. For well over a decade, the company has been working to improve the sustainability of its operations and supply chain.
There is no trash to landfill at the Halifax facility. Since 2015, the brand has solely utilised certified sustainably sourced cocoa, and Quality Street chocolate is manufactured with milk obtained from Scottish farms that have been part of a sustainable farming collaboration with Nestlé since 2003.
Quality Street is the second Nestlé confectionery brand to make the move to paper, following Smarties, which introduced recyclable paper packaging for all of its confectionery goods globally in 2021. This significant milestone will help Nestlé meet its goal of achieving 100% recyclable packaging by 2025.
Source: Nestlé's
