Cadbury sharing bars will be wrapped in 80% recycled plastic by Mondelez

Mondelēz International has teamed up with Amcor and Jindal Films to wrap 300 million Cadbury sharing bars in 80% mass-balance certified recyclable plastic—complete with QR-code transparency—setting a new global benchmark for sustainable packaging.

 

 

In the UK and Ireland, Mondelēz International has partnered with Amcor and Jindal Films to wrap some 300 million Cadbury sharing bars in 80% recyclable plastic, reportedly using cutting-edge recycling technology.

 

The project intends to cover over 300 million sharing bars across the UK & Ireland Cadbury core tablet portfolio beginning in 2025 in a staggered manner. According to Mondelēz, this is predicated on anticipated sales quantities for 2026, taking into account the usage of mass balancing material and eliminating non-certified wrappers.

 

With 80% of the plastic used in the packaging attributable to recycled plastic through mass balance and ISCC PLUS certification, the move is anticipated to result in the highest percentage of recycled flexible plastic utilized within the Cadbury brand worldwide. According to Amcor, its AmFiniti solution uses advanced recycling material (ARM) that is appropriate for food-grade applications to transform post-consumer plastic waste into new product, giving Mondelēz a packaging solution made with 80% certified recycled plastic.

 

 

Mondelēz claims that customers will be able to access a new site using a QR code on the packaging to learn more about the Cadbury brand's journey towards sustainable packaging and a "consumer-friendly" explanation of mass balance. Additionally, the platform will include WRAP's Recycle Now finder, which will allow users to look up local recycling and pickup locations for a variety of packaging materials.

 

"The biggest recycling challenge is plastic wrapping - collecting it at scale, sorting, and recycling it into new things - ideally packaging." According to Helen Bird, head of Material System Transformation at WRAP, "only advanced recycling technologies can recycle this type of plastic back into food packaging."

 

WRAP is thrilled to learn that Mondelēz, a member of the UK Plastics Pact, is implementing certified recycled plastic in its Cadbury sharing bars. This is the way of the future, and it needs to be widely implemented across many businesses and product categories.

 

In February, Cadbury Australia and Amcor agreed to source around 1000 tonnes of recycled plastic from post-consumer sources to wrap about 500 million of its family-sized Dairy Milk chocolate blocks. The company planned to employ about 50% recycled plastics for its Australian blocks, bars, and pieces in an effort to lessen its dependency on virgin plastics.

 

Targeting multipack products for the chocolate, biscuit, and confectionery markets, Saica Group and Mondelēz partnered a few months later to introduce paper-based packaging that is recyclable in the paper waste stream. The product can be made coated or uncoated and is reportedly appropriate for the heat sealable packing process.