Easter recycling reminder

Shropshire residents are being urged by Shropshire Council and its waste management contractor Veolia Environmental Services (UK) Ltd to choose chocolate eggs with recyclable packaging, and help reduce the amount of waste created this Easter. 

Each year across the UK an extra 8,000 tonnes of waste is generated just from Easter egg packaging and cards alone.

Around 80 million chocolate eggs are sold in the UK at Easter, which creates around 4,370 tonnes of cardboard and 160 tonnes of aluminium foil waste. The foil can be recycled along with cans, tins and aerosols simply by using your kerbside recycling box.  Cardboard can be recycled at your local cardboard recycling bank.

Most of the rest is rigid plastic packaging which is not widely or economically recycled yet, so will mainly end up in landfill.  However, it is now possible to avoid this, simply by choosing chocolate which comes in different types of packaging.  Indeed, thanks to the efforts of some retailers and manufacturers, it is now possible to buy Easter eggs with 100 per cent recyclable and compostable packaging. 

Mike Owen, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for waste management, said:

“Every Easter more than £299 million is spent on chocolate in the UK, but a side effect is millions of pounds of extra costs for local council taxpayers across the UK to pick up and process all that packaging. 

“The British confectionery industry has made great strides in recent years to reduce the amount of packaging they use and make it easier to recycle and compost.   

“But of course we need everyone to play their part and match this commitment by making sure they buy Easter eggs which have recyclable packaging, and then use their local recycling services.” 

For more information on recycling in Shropshire go to www.recycleforshropshire.com