Easter egg makers accused of being 'locked in a packaging arms race' (20.03.2008)
Lindt and Nestlé have been reported to Trading Standards for breaching packaging regulations by East Dunbartonshire MP, Jo Swinson.
In her second study carried out on the amount of packaging used by a range of Easter egg makers, Lindt and Nestlé came out worst with Nestle's Easter egg actually showing an increase in packaging.
Ms Swinson said: "These Easter eggs epitomise why consumers are so frustrated with over-packaged goods, especially at Easter. The eggs take up just 9% of the volume of the packaging and the Nestle egg has actually increased the amount of packaging used compared to a survey I carried out last year.
"There are clear legal requirements placed on packaging and these eggs certainly go beyond what is necessary to protect the product. You just have to look at the bewildering array of Easter eggs on offer to see that producers are locked into a packaging 'arms race', competing for space on the supermarket shelf with bigger and more attention-grabbing products.
"The government must take the initiative and force supermarkets and producers to stop this wasteful, unnecessary use of resources."
According to the Lib Dem MP, it was not all bad news with some evidence of good practice, notably by Sainsbury's whose own-brand egg used a minimal foil wrapper as packaging.
Overall, however, Ms Swinson said it was clear that most producers viewed excessive packaging as a necessary weapon in their battle for dominance on the supermarket shelf.
This is despite over 90% of the UK grocery market having signed up to the Defra-brokered Courtauld Commitment which aims to design out packaging waste growth by this year and to deliver absolute reductions in packaging waste by 2010. The 2008 study made ten comparisons with eggs measured in 2007.
Examples from the study revealed, for instance, that a Mars Easter egg showed no significant change in the dimensions, weight or packaging materials used, although the cardboard packaging is claimed to be made from 100% recycled material.
Neither Lindt nor Green & Black's had made any change from their packaging last year.
Cadbury's Dairy Milk pays a nod to recycling by carrying a recycling logo and asking consumers to 'please recycle'.
However, not all the fault lies at the doors of the manufacturers, the study found that despite Cadbury launching 'eco-eggs' this year, none of the stores used to purchase the eggs for the study stocked eco-eggs.
All in all, the study said there had not been a discernible shift by producers to significantly reduce the amount of packaging on Easter eggs.
Ms Swinson's report added that "little appears to have been done by the manufacturers to buck the overall trend of small eggs being housed inside big, attention-grabbing boxes".