New partnership announced to bring 80 per cent recycled plastic to Cadbury sharing bars

Cadbury core sharing bars, made in Bournville and Coolock and sold across the UK&I, will now be wrapped in 80 per cent certified recycled plastic, Mondelēz International has announced.

The move is the result of a collaboration with Amcor, a global leader in developing and producing more sustainable packaging solutions and Jindal Films, an industry leader in the development and manufacture of recyclable films designed for flexible packaging.

Starting from 2025, in a phased approach, the project aims to cover approximately 300 million sharing bars across the UK&I Cadbury core tablet portfolio.

The move will see the highest percentage of recycled flexible plastic used within the Cadbury brand globally. As part of this effort, 80 per cent of the plastic used in the packaging can be attributed to recycled plastic through mass balance and ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) PLUS certification.

Consumers can also access a new platform via an on pack QR code to find out more about the sustainable packaging journey the Cadbury brand is taking and a consumer-friendly explanation about mass balance.

The platform also features the Recycle Now locator from WRAP, enabling consumers to check local collection and recycling points for a wide range of packaging materials.

Louise Stigant, SVP and UK&I managing director of Mondelēz International said: “This is the latest move in our journey to increase our use of post-consumer recycled plastic across our Cadbury tablets portfolio in the UK&I” said 

“We remain focused on our long-term aim to offer more sustainable packaging, in particular flexible plastic packaging using advanced recycling technologies.

“For us this is based around a three-part approach aimed at reducing our packaging, evolving, and designing our packaging to be recyclable and improving systems by supporting the development of UK infrastructure and capabilities to collect, sort and recycle it back into food contact packaging.”

Helen Bird, head of material system transformation at WRAP said: "The biggest recycling challenge is plastic wrapping - collecting it at scale, sorting and recycling it into new things - ideally packaging.

“Recycling this type of plastic back into food packaging can only be achieved through advanced recycling technologies.

“WRAP is delighted to hear that UK Plastics Pact member Mondelēz is rolling out the use of certified recycled plastic in its Cadbury sharing bars. This is the future and must be scaled far and wide across other companies and products ranges."

Amcor’s AmFiniti™ solution converts post-consumer plastic waste into new products, providing Mondelēz International with a packaging solution that is made using 80 per cent certified recycled plastic.

This innovative process uses advanced recycling Material (ARM) that is suitable for food-grade applications.