Spread the Love and Reduce the Waste this Easter | Our Guide to Low Waste Easter Eggs

Guide to Low Waste Easter eggs

Arguably the most uncomfortable time of the year for a waste reducer outside of Christmas is Easter! All that plastic packaging containing such a small amount of chocolate! Over 80 million eggs sold in this country alone! Yikes!

Over the past few years, some of the larger manufacturers have heard the public cry of dismay and started introducing some lower packaging and waste options. And there is an increasing amount of ‘ethical’ brands out there with great green, fair trade and plant-based credentials.

But what sets this year apart is that we have fewer retailers to choose from – we can’t wander up our high streets and support the specialist shops and smaller businesses, so the supermarkets have an unfair advantage.

So our suggestion to you is to try and seek out something locally sold or made – check if your favourite local shop is offering a click and collect or online service, or look for some smaller retailers online – it’s time to spread the love where we can.

As for the products themselves, here is our handy low waste guide to Easter Eggs this year! We normally go for a good rifle through the supermarkets and the high street, but this is the best we can do online!

Montezuma’s

A small but perfectly formed brand that has worked really hard to make all of its packaging 100% recyclable, compostable or biodegradable. If the small guys can do it, why does it take the big boys so long to do it is our question! Sadly their Eco-Egg isn’t available this year, but there are still plenty of yummy ethical and vegan treats to choose from. Also from my home-town, so a little bit proud and biased!

Their shops are shut at the moment, but you can order from them directly on their website.

 

Montezumas Egg

Tony’s Chocoloney

Hands up who is addicted to Tonys Chocoloney chocolate? That’ll be me then! They bewitched me with their Wonka Bar style beautiful paper packaging in the beginning, and I am now a firm fan. You cannot argue with their strong ethical stance and ‘slave free’ chocolate campaign either. Their products look great and oh so beautifully plastic free! You can even create your own personalised Easter bar, or enjoy their novel lemon meringue egg-shaped bar! Genius! As a chicken keeper, I also love their egg-box packaged chocolate eggs!

Widely available in supermarkets but also available directly from their gorgeous website! 

Tonys Chocolonely Plastic Free Easter Eggs

Chococo

Another one we are usually lucky enough to have on our high street is Chococo. They’ve got some beautiful luxury varieties including one with honeycomb chunks – ooh yum, and are 100% plastic-free. Their website has a huge range, and you are bound to find something for everyone! We love this cute little egg in an enamel mug too!

Low Waste Easter egg in a Mug

 

Booja Booja

Be still my beating heart at the sight of these beautiful hand-painted eggs all the way from Kashmir. As a Bollywood fan myself, these tick so many boxes for me – once you’ve scoffed the choc, you are left with a beautiful piece of exotic eggy art to keep you smiling! Love, love, love! Filled with truffles in a range of flavours, including almond and sea salt caramel, fine de champagne and hazelnut crunch.

They don’t have an online store but they do have a full listing of stockists, so why not find an independent retailer near you to shop from online.

Booja Plastic Free Eggs

The Popular Family Favourites

So the biggest of them all, Cadbury,offers what I would call a ‘token’ plastic-free option – wrapped in foil, they are indeed lovely, especially if you are addicted to Cadbury chocolate like so many, but the rest of their range, particularly a lot of their mini eggs, are plastic clad and disappointing.

They have removed the plastic window in the rest of their boxed range – 6.4 million windows in total they say, and they have done a better job of sourcing the cardboard to a more sustainable source, but when you think of the size of their market share, it feels like a drop in the ocean!  Still, if it has to be Dairy Milk, here’s your lowest packaging option!

https://www.cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/cadbury-dairy-milk-easter-egg-77g-box-of-12.html

As for the other huge family favourites from Mars, Galaxy, Kinder, etc, I can only find a vague reference to overall packaging reducing goals on all of their ranges, so I guess you pays your money and takes your chance at this point!  And I desperately want to suggest Thorntons as another retailer whose doors are closed right now, but their packaging policy is vague, to say the least. Vague = avoid in my world!

Overall our advice is to try and opt for varieties wrapped in just foil if you can and if you are buying boxed ones, just have a quick check to see if they have a plastic window or not. Check the packaging for any recycling advice – and if all else fails, bag yourself a silicon mould and make your own, preferably from On Buy, not from Amazon! I’m not going to suggest dying real eggs – a supplementary activity perhaps, but it’s never going to replace chocolate in our house!

Of course, my other addiction is books, so I often supplement the sugar with something more ‘intellectually stimulating’ – here’s a wonderful selection for you to check out!

Our favourite Easter books for children

Happy Easter everyone! Don’t eat too many eggs and enjoy your family time together!

If you have found any other options that you would recommend, do please let us know!

STOP PRESS!!

We are delighted to have found a couple more plastic-free options for you to look out for in the supermarkets.

Firstly, there is a treat for all mint chocolate fans in the form of Asda’s Extra Special The Mint One which is plastic-free and made from UTZ certified cocoa.  Co-op has also confirmed their status as an increasingly ethical option too with their Irresistible Fairtrade Valencia Orange Crunch egg.

If you hear of any more, do let us know!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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