BEFORE you dive into your favourite festive selection box, think about how much chocolate you are getting for your money – and is the product going to harm the environment?
Many sweet treats come with a lot of packaging that ends up in a landfill as it cannot be recycled. And in a year when consumers have become more aware of climate change, that sits as badly as Santa stuck up a chimney.
Here, consumer expert Angela Terry gives some of the best-known chocolate offerings a rating out of ten for eco-friendliness to reveal which are quality treats – and which are not a cause for celebrations.
Lindt Festive Selection
(£10, Tesco)
CHOCOLATE: 400g
PACKAGING: 518g
VALUE: This is the worst offender for value and green credentials. Chocs account for less than half the total weight. Worse, the tin is very heavy so you are likely to be disappointed with the small stash inside.
TASTE: Super-sweet, creamy Swiss milk chocolate.
GREEN RATING: 1
Lindt Lindor Maxi Ball
(£10, Tesco)
CHOCOLATE: 550g
PACKAGING: 242g
VALUE: Only one aspect of the Lindt Lindor Maxi Ball can be recycled – the gift tag. It is two-thirds chocolate and one third packaging.
TASTE: Rich, creamy Swiss milk chocolate.
GREEN RATING: 3
M&M & Friends selection box
(£2, Sainsbury’s)
CHOCOLATE: 144g
PACKAGING: 79g
VALUE: More than a third of the price goes on the box. In its favour, it is cardboard so can be recycled.
TASTE: Chocolates in a candy shell. A favourite with the kids.
GREEN RATING: 6
Quality Street Purely Purple Ones
(£3.50, Tesco)
CHOCOLATE: 432g
PACKAGING: 338g
VALUE: This has too many non-recyclable wrappers. Although three quarters of the weight is chocolate, the other quarter is mostly made up of a big plastic bowl that will end up being chucked rather than recycled.
TASTE: Great for purple lovers – it’s just the hazelnut caramels from the famous treat tin. Just not very green.
GREEN RATING: 3
Milky Way & Friends Selection Box
(£2, Asda)
CHOCOLATE: 127g
PACKAGING: 79g
VALUE: Enough packets of Mars favourites to keep little ones happy for hours. The cardboard box can go in the green doorstep bin.
TASTE: Great for kids.
GREEN RATING: 6
Terry’s Chocolate Orange
(£1, Asda)
CHOCOLATE: 157g
PACKAGING: 15g
VALUE: The humble Chocolate Orange is the best-value buy. It is nearly all chocolate and even better, the box is recyclable.
Only the outer foil wrapper ends up in landfill.
TASTE: A harder texture but this is a sweet blend of milk chocolate and citrus.
GREEN RATING: 10
Ferrero Rocher
(£6, Morrisons)
CHOCOLATE: 300g
PACKAGING: 252g
VALUE: An awful lot of gold wrapping around a ball of chocolate. The tough plastic box bears a sticker that says it cannot be collected from most doorstep recycling boxes.
Instead, you have to take it to one of 112 TerraCycle drop-off points in the UK.
TASTE: Chocolate, wafer and a whole hazelnut.
GREEN RATING: 3
After Eights
(£2, Tesco)
CHOCOLATE: 300g
PACKAGING: 43g
VALUE: You might think the individual wrappers would be an issue but you can recycle them along with the box. And they are so light you are mostly paying for chocolate. It does have a plastic outer wrapper, though.
TASTE: A slim covering of chocolate over a strong mint melty fondant. A post-dinner Christmas classic.
GREEN RATING: 9
Celebrations
(£3.99, Morrisons)
CHOCOLATE: 650g
PACKAGING: 153g
VALUE: A decent chocolate-to-packaging ratio. The tub is not recyclable but the symbol on the back suggests Mars has offset this with a financial contribution. Wrappers destined for landfill.
TASTE: Milky Way, Bounty, Galaxy, Maltesers and Mars in bite-size form.
GREEN RATING: 8
M&S Milk Dark & White Chocolate Box
(£16, Marks & Spencer)
CHOCOLATE: 350g
PACKAGING: 50g
VALUE: These chocs are made in Belgium but packed in Poland, adding to their carbon footprint. There are 72 per pack.
TASTE: A luxury selection of Belgian milk, dark and white chocolates with assorted centres, including honeycomb crunch, raspberry cream and hazelnut praline.
GREEN RATING: 5
Thorntons’ Classic Collection
(£9.75, Amazon)
CHOCOLATE: 262g
PACKAGING: 84g
VALUE: Pretty good. Contains 24 chocolates. The basic plastic tray comes as a single layer and there are individual recyclable cases for each chocolate.
TASTE: All the crowd-pleasers – fudge, praline, caramel – in white and dark chocolates. Delicious.
GREEN RATING: 7
Moo Free selection box
(£3.99, Lidl)
CHOCOLATE: 105g
PACKAGING: 76g
VALUE: Four dairy-free bars in different flavours, plus a bag of chocolate buttons. Almost half the price goes on packaging so it feels over-elaborate. But all the packaging can be recycled.
TASTE: Despite the lack of milk, the chocolate is really tasty. This is perfect for vegans or family members who need a gluten-free diet.
GREEN RATING: 7
GOT a story? RING HOAR on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.hellofaread.com/money/loveholidays-to-refund-18million-back-to-44000-customers-with-cancelled-holidays-due-to-coronavirus/
