Search for Recycling

Get cracking with greener gifts this Easter

As Easter approaches, many of us will start to think about all things egg-shaped as approximately 80 million chocolate eggs will be bought in the UK over the Easter period. This year, without wanting to deny Wales’ chocoholics their sweet treats, Waste Awareness Wales is asking people to try and reduce the amount of packaging waste these chocolate eggs create.

Whether it’s buying eggs wrapped simply in foil, or even making your own chocolate treats, there are plenty of ways we can all help reduce the amount of extra packaging waste this time of year often creates.

Anna Richards, manager of Waste Awareness Wales, comments:

"With Easter can come a large amount of Easter egg boxes and packaging which can all too often head straight to landfill.   So this year, we are encouraging people to buy chocolate eggs with the least packaging possible or even showing off your baking talents as well as indulging your inner chocoholic."

Waste Awareness Wales’s tips on how to banish additional packaging this Easter:

1. Plan an Easter egg hunt. Hiding small foil wrapped chocolate eggs around the house and garden isn’t just fun – it also cuts down on the additional packaging which often comes with larger eggs.
   
2. Try and purchase eggs or chocolate with the least packaging possible – whether it’s a foil wrapped egg or a simple foil-wrapped bunny, there are plenty of alternatives to an egg wrapped in a combination of foil, plastic and cardboard.
   
3. If you can’t resist those big boxes though, make sure you reuse the cardboard and plastic – for example the plastic shell can be used as a mould for next year’s homemade Easter eggs or the foil packaging can be used in a colourful collage.
   
4. Prove yourself to be a popular neighbour by baking chocolate cornflake nests, or a traditional Easter cake. Don’t forget to compost any shells from eggs used in the cake together with the cardboard egg box!