Launching in February, the 90g Smarties orange block comprises orange chocolate and orange mini Smarties. The Smarties milk chocolate 100g block is also being replaced by a 90g variant. Both blocks have an rrp of £1. In addition, the brand is releasing a white Smarties block, but this is exclusive to Asda.
Meanwhile, the rollout of Smarties’ recyclable paper packaging, which will be complete in the UK and Ireland by April, sees the removal of approximately 250 million plastic packs sold worldwide every year. This represents a transition of 90% of the Smarties range, as 10% was already packed in recyclable paper packaging. New sharing bags, multipacks and giant hexatubes will be made from coated paper, paper labels or carton board.
Alexander von Maillot, global head of confectionery at Nestlé, said: “Moving Smarties packaging to recyclable paper is one of our key sustainable packaging initiatives in the confectionery category. It is a further step in realising Nestlé’s ambition to make all of our packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 and to reduce our use of virgin plastics by one third in the same period.”
Louise Barrett, head of the Nestlé Confectionery Product Technology Centre in York, said: “Developing safe and convenient paper-based solutions for Smarties has required the pioneering of new materials and testing by Nestlé packaging experts at our R&D centre for confectionery in York and at the Swiss-based Institute of Packaging Sciences. We adapted our existing manufacturing lines to allow for the careful handling that is required for paper, while also ensuring recyclability across all new formats.”
The launch of the Smarties sharing block in a recyclable paper wrapper last year was an important step forward in the overall packaging transition.
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