Mondelēz partners with Amcor for recycled plastic confectionery packaging
Advanced recycling technology will enable Cadbury sharing bars sold in the UK and Ireland to use 80% recycled plastic in their packaging from 2025. The initiative, which will cover approximately 300 million bars annually, represents the highest percentage of recycled flexible plastic within the Cadbury brand globally and marks a significant development in food-contact packaging materials.
The project, announced in partnership with packaging manufacturer Amcor and film specialist Jindal Films, will allocate around 600 tonnes of post-consumer recycled plastic across Cadbury’s core tablet portfolio. The packaging will be manufactured using Amcor’s AmFiniti solution, which converts post-consumer plastic waste into food-grade packaging materials through advanced recycling processes.
Technical specifications
The recycled content attribution will be managed through mass balance accounting and verified by International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS certification. This system tracks the proportion of recycled versus virgin materials during the manufacturing process, though the exact amount of recycled content in individual wrappers cannot be physically traced.
Quality assurance and traceability
Each package will feature a QR code linking to detailed information about the sustainable packaging process and mass balance methodology. The platform will also integrate WRAP’s Recycle Now locator, enabling consumers to identify local collection points for various packaging materials.
Industry perspective
Helen Bird, Head of Material System Transformation at WRAP, highlighted the technical challenges involved: “Recycling this type of plastic back into food packaging can only be achieved through advanced recycling technologies. This is the future and must be scaled far and wide across other companies and products ranges.”
The initiative builds upon Mondelēz’s previous implementation of 30% certified recycled plastic in its 110g Cadbury Dairy Milk sharing bars, introduced in 2022. The company’s approach focuses on reducing packaging quantity, designing for recyclability, and supporting the development of UK infrastructure for collection, sorting, and recycling into food-contact packaging.
The project demonstrates the technical feasibility of incorporating high percentages of recycled content in flexible plastic food packaging while maintaining necessary food safety standards. It also aligns with upcoming EU regulations on recycled content in packaging materials.
Flexible Plastic Fund
In 2021 Mondelēz International joined forces with retailers and other fast-moving consumer goods leaders to finance and launch the Flexible Plastic Fund. The fund was created to drive up UK recycling rates of flexible plastic initially through front of store collections, with the longer-term aim to include this material within UK household recycling collections.
In 2022, Mondelēz International contributed to the Flex Collect project, the largest pilot for household collection and recycling of flexible plastic packaging ever undertaken in the UK. This industry led project, initiated, and led by the Flexible Plastic Fund, benefits from cross-industry expertise of leading industry and government partners, including DEFRA, Ecosurety, UK Research & Innovation’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge delivered by Innovate UK, SUEZ recycling and recovery UK, RECOUP, WRAP and Zero Waste Scotland.
