Thanks to Nestle's new pilot program in Australia, KitKats will be wrapped in paper packaging instead of single-use plastic. The chocolate manufacturer is moving away from packaging that contributes to large amounts of plastic waste to a more sustainable paper wrapper.
Nestle told fans of the chocolate bar to "have a paper-wrapped break" — a sustainable play on their normal slogan.
The confectionery giant will produce more than 250,000 Kit Kat bars wrapped in paper through a new partnership with Coles, a local retailer in Australia. Each pack will also feature a QR code for people to scan and give valuable feedback on the new concept.
Environmentally friendly packaging seems to be the focus in Australia after Mars Wrigley also announced plans to transition a portion of its chocolate products to paper-based packaging.
"For KitKat, the challenge was to find the right paper packaging solution with a high level of barrier properties to adequately protect the chocolate," said Louise Barrett, head of the Nestle Confectionery Product Technology Centre in York, United Kingdom. "We had to maintain the perfect balance between the iconic crispy wafer and smooth chocolate that people know and love, whilst at the same time ensuring the packaging is recyclable in the paper stream."
Turning to a paper wrapper is another positive step in the commitment to reduce our reliance on single-use plastics. Nestle set a goal to reduce the use of virgin plastics by a third by 2025, and it seems that package innovation is a key part of their strategy.
The change for KitKat comes after other recent wrapper alternatives from Smarties, which switched to paper tubes in 2021.
As Energy + Environmental Leader writes, "According to Nestlé, this initiative could save [more than 2,000 tons] of CO2 emissions annually if it expanded beyond Australia," a significant reduction in the amount of harmful air-polluting gas being released into the atmosphere. These gases are released in the manufacturing processes of plastic packaging as well as in the burning of plastic materials that end up in landfills.
The new, paper-wrapped KitKat bars are available from select Coles Supermarkets and can be recycled through normal curbside recycling bins.
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