Mars Chocolate Bars to Use Paper Wrapper to Minimize Plastic Waste

Mars Incorporated is working on finding ways to reduce its use of plastic, and the company has launched a trial where it has swapped plastic wrappers for paper. This means that the confectionery and food manufacturer started wrapping its Mars chocolate bars with paper instead of the usual plastic.

The move is part of Mars Incorporated’s efforts to cut plastic waste. According to BBC News, the company just gave its products a new look through the shift to recyclable paper wrappers and removing plastic from its packaging system. The process is still in the pilot stage, so some of its production facilities may still be wrapping chocolate bars in plastic.

The company wants to completely shift to the use of environmentally friendly materials, and through the trial, it will be able to determine if it is possible to make this a permanent packing process. In any case, based on the report, Mars Inc. rolled out the new paper packaging of Mars chocolate on Monday, May 29. The products were delivered to at least 500 Tesco outlets across the United Kingdom.

Mars’ trial for its plastic reduction efforts comes after its rival, Nestlé, also started using paper wrappers for its Smarties chocolate. The latter has been selling the said candy brand in paper-based packaging since January 2021.

The chocolate maker shared finding the perfect paper to use for the Mars bars was a challenge because not all papers are suitable. It said they had to find papers made with "adequate level of barrier properties to protect the chocolate."

Finally, Sky News reported that Mars’ has a goal of making all of its packaging materials reusable, recyclable, and compostable. Mars Wrigley UK’s general manager, Adam Grant, further said that the rollout of the paper wrapper was "a big step to see how paper-based packaging works in everyday life” and added that "from the test, we will derive insights for our sustainable packaging strategy."

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