Quality Street scraps trademark coloured plastic wrappers in bid to go green

Quality Street bosses have announced the trademark coloured wrappers will be scrapped from chocolates as the confectionist bids to go green.

The minds behind the Christmas favourites are bringing an end to 86 years of tradition by getting rid of the see-through packaging and foil in favour of waxed paper to make packaging recyclable.

Consumers will start to notice the change in the coming weeks as the decision was made to stop two billion wrappers a year from being thrown into landfill.

The wrappers will still have their iconic colours, with the hazelnut in caramel encased in purple paper, the coconut eclair in blue and the fudge in pink.

However, the sparkle will be dulled as it is replaced with a paper that is neither fully matt nor fully shiny. The paper is coated with vegetable-based wax, which protects the chocolates, on the inside.

Cheryl Allen, head of sustainability at Nestlé confectionery, said the company thought long and hard before making such a change: “Quality Street is a brand that people feel very strongly about.

“We know that opening the lid and seeing ‘the jewels’, as we call them, is really important.

“We think we’ve done a really good job with the redesign, and feel confident that people will respond positively.”

Alex Hutchinson, a chocolate historian, who used to be the official archivist at Rowntree Mackintosh, added: “It’s a huge deal. And it’s a bit sad.

“Because when Harold Mackintosh originally launched Quality Street he specifically designed it to be an explosion of colour, different flavours, different shapes. The wrapping was absolutely key.”