Quality Street swaps iconic plastic wrappers for eco-friendly option after 86 years

There's nothing that feels quite as Christmassy as tucking into a colourful tin of Quality Street while you watch a festive film.

But the chocolate brand is moving with the times and ditching its iconic plastic wrappers after 86 years.

Nestlé, who own the famous confectionary line along with the likes of KitKat, has revealed that it is making the decision with the environment in mind.

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Instead of the current packaging – a double layer of foil and cellulose with a paper wrap – they will be using a recyclable waxed paper.

Despite the change in material, Quality Street will still keep its distinctive colours, which famously include shades of purple, green and gold.

The change, which will start to be seen by fans of the chocolate brand in coming weeks, is intended to stop more than two billion pieces of packaging ending up in landfill.

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Elaborating on the reason behind the decision, Richard Watson, business executive officer at Nestlé, said: "Nestlé Confectionery is taking a leadership position on packaging sustainability as we work towards reducing our use of virgin plastic by one third and making all our packaging recyclable or reusable within the next three years."

Speaking to The Mirror, Cheryl Allen, Head of Sustainability at Nestlé, revealed that the brand had taken a while to reach the decision – which will still take months to fully roll out.

"Quality Street is a brand that people feel very strongly about," she said. "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.”

When Harold Mackintosh created the beloved chocolates in 1936, he also used the world's first twist-wrapping machine to package them up.

These days, it is estimated that more than 1.7 billion pieces are consumed each year – which is the equivalent of around 63% of British households.

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