Waste spikes following festivities, with many households failing to sort rubbish correctly. Now the aluminum industry is arming local authorities with free assets and the public has a strong message to confectionary giants.
Finally, it has arrived. That moment we’ve all been waiting for, whether you’re on the bandwagon for because you get two days off work – a four day weekend no less – or observing a more sincere, even austere, religious holiday.
But as the UK begins the longest of its Bank Holidays, the country is bracing itself for a huge uptick in waste because of Easter. And it’s not just environmentalists sounding the alarm. According to DS Smith, 65% of the British public now says Easter eggs are now overpackaged. Worse still, most don’t know what to do with the various parts of that packaging.
It’s true, almost nine-in-10 of us put the cardboard itself into our relevant recycling bin. But little over one-in-three do the same with the foil wrap, and just 17% take appropriate action with the plastic box often used the hold the egg in place. That’s a big problem when we take into account just how many of these treats – not to mention all the other food – we’re going to get through between now and Monday.
In 2021, Challenge Boxes & Packaging ran the numbers on UK holidays, and the figures are as predictable as they are surprising. The impact of Christmas is monstrous, with 289,171 tonnes of waste produced on and around the big day. Staggeringly, that’s almost 100 times the quantity we throw away after Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, which combined produced more than three-times the level of waste as Easter.
Nevertheless, thanks to our penchant for eggs, Mini Eggs, chocolate bunnies, lamb roast dinners and every other icon of the spring celebration, Britain will send close to 10,000 tonnes of cardboard to recycling and landfill next week. Close to 4,500 of that is from eggs alone, and a further 4,000 or so tonnes of plastic will also be destined for the same fate.
With 90million Easter eggs expected to be sold this year, the quantity of waste is understandable. But the issue is now significant enough Alupro, the aluminium recycling association, has produced a number of free-to-download resources aimed at local authority representatives.
Designed to encourage and influence recycling behaviours, and give more than a nudge towards best practice, these include static and animated social media assets which promote foil recycling. In 2024, around one-third of councils used these and it’s expected that more will be doing the same this time round.
‘Easter is the perfect time to remind people about best practice recycling,’ said Tom Giddings, Alupro’s Executive Director. ‘The aluminium foil from Easter eggs is 100% recyclable and can be easily repurposed into something valuable if presented properly at the kerbside.
‘We hope that local authorities will use our free assets to encourage their residents to recycle this Easter, helping to reduce waste and promote a more sustainable future,’ he added.
Image: Nik / Unsplash
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