Mars Bars trialling environmentally friendly paper wrappers

With environmental and conservation groups such as the RSPCA condemning single-use plastic wrappers, Mars will today, May 29, trial a paper wrapper in the UK. 

With Nestle already ahead of the game, producing recyclable packaging for their Smarties and Quality Street products in 2021, and 2022, respectively, Mars Wrigley UK are playing catch-up. But they say the current trial will inform their next step in making all their packaging more sustainable.

The company are planning to spend around £1 million in their mission to cut plastic usage by a third and has recently achieved carbon neutral status, with more environmentally beneficial work to come.

They are running this trial in direct partnership with Tesco supermarkets who are very happy to team up with Mars Wrigley as they too are seeking to reduce plastic.

They were seen on Twitter earlier this month saying: “We’re always looking for ways to reduce the amount of plastic we use. So far, we’ve removed 2bn pieces and we’re working to make it 5bn by 2025. That means less plastic in your shop but with the same great Tesco products.”

We’re always looking for ways to reduce the amount of plastic we use. So far, we’ve removed 2bn pieces and we’re working to make it 5bn by 2025. That means less plastic in your shop, but with the same great Tesco products. #EveryLittleHelps pic.twitter.com/9ZttgMUjOD

— Tesco (@Tesco) May 16, 2023

With the banning of plastic straws in the UK in 2020 and more countries and businesses around the world looking to achieve carbon-neutral status, we can hope that the Mars/Tesco collaboration is successful as it directly eliminates plastic.

In other instances, where carbon offsetting is used to achieve carbon-neutral status, some claim that this is a facade in which companies can appear to be more environmentally friendly, while still causing environmental damage.

Carbon offsetting means essentially that an entity can continue to pollute while doing something environmentally beneficial to compensate in other areas, such as planting trees.

But many would argue that the more direct approach of replacing non-sustainable materials like Mars is trying to do, is much more effective in the fight to sustain the planet.