Nestlé's Hamburg chocolate factory is now producing rolls, bags and boxes for Smarties and Mini-Smarties in packaging made only from paper. And it is the only Smarties plant in Europe to do so for more than 50 countries around the world.
Nestlé puts an end to plastic lids and the like: „Smarties in paper is a strong signal for the Hamburg site,“ says plant manager Arturo Galvan. „Two completely new production lines are now wrapping our colourful chocolate lentils in paper. Two more will be used in the future. Nestlé has invested 10 million euros in the chocolate factory. By switching to paper, we save more than 191 tonnes of plastic in our production every year.“
Among Nestlé's factories, the Chocolate factory a real giant for confectionery products in the Hanseatic city. The 800-strong factory team produces more than 20,000 tonnes of products a year for the Smarties brand alone. That is more than 20 billion chocolate lentils every year - that is enough to completely cover more than 600 football pitches.
Entire range of the Smarties will be changed
Previously, 10 per cent of Smarties products were packaged in recyclable paper. The Changeover now affects the entire range. According to the company, this will save around 250 million items of plastic packaging per year. Smarties chocolate bars in the UK already made a start with paper last year.
„Switching Smarties packaging to recyclable paper is one of our most important sustainable packaging initiatives in the confectionery category.“ Alexander von Maillot, Global Head of Confectionery at Nestlé
The new Smarties paper packaging comes from sustainable forestry and consist of coated paper, paper labels or cardboard. According to Nestlé, the paper can be disposed of in the waste paper bin like any other newsprint. There is also a recycling notice for consumers on the product packaging.
[infotext icon]By 2025, all of Nestlé's packaging should be recyclable or reusable. Over the same period, the company also wants to use a third less new plastic. To achieve this goal, the food manufacturer is relying on three pillars. Nestlé is developing environmentally friendly and safe packaging materials, promoting the further development of well-functioning collection, sorting and recycling systems and supporting consumers in recycling correctly. In addition, the company says it has invested two billion Swiss francs in a circular economy for plastics. The company's own Institute of Packaging Sciences also brings together more than 50 scientists who are researching sustainable packaging solutions[/infotext].„We have developed new materials and carried out extensive tests. To do this, the Confectionery Research Centre in York worked together with the Nestlé Packaging Research Institute in Lausanne. Packaging products in paper is not easy. At the same time, we have to ensure recyclability for all product formats. We have therefore adapted our existing production lines.“ Louise Barrett, Head of the Nestlé Product Technology Centre for Confectionery in York, Great Britain
Source: Nestlé
