Mondelēz cuts Cadbury share bags packaging by 15%

Mondelēz International has announced that it will reduce the packaging used in its large Cadbury share bags by 15%, marking its latest step towards using less packaging across its UK business. 

The new packs are now on shelves and are the first in a series of moves planned in the UK by Mondelēz to remove or reduce unnecessary packaging. The company claims that the cut will remove the equivalent of 20 football pitches of plastic from the UK.

The cut will be made across its Cadbury Giant Buttons, Caramel Nibbles and Bitsa Wispa large sharing bags across the UK, however Mondelēz says the bags will maintain the same amount of product as before. 

As a result of the smaller bags, the company claims that 14% less trucks will be required to transport the same amount of product.

The optimised bags are a result of the company’s internal innovation competition, ‘Snackathon’, after a team from Bournville introduced a way to shake the bag on the line, which meant they could cut the wrap to a shorter height.

In its latest sustainability report, the company stated that 93% of its packaging had been designed to be recyclable and that it was on track to reach 100% by 2025. To date, Mondelēz has eliminated over 64,000 tonnes of packaging globally since 2013 and it intends to achieve 65,000 by the end of this year.

Earlier this year, Mondelēz became a member of the UK Plastics Pact and a signatory of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. It also announced that its Philadephia cream cheese sold in the UK and Europe will be made using recycled plastic packaging from 2022.

Louise Stigant, UK managing director at Mondelez International, said: “We’re committed to reducing the impact our products have on the environment and tackling packaging waste. One way in which we are delivering against that ambition is to either reduce or remove our packaging where we can without compromising food safety.”