Response from Lindt about packaging

Filed in Blog, packaging by on June 16, 2010 6 Comments
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Lindt chocolates with dodgy packaging

Lindt chocolates with dodgy packaging

You may remember a while ago I found a couple of sample boxes of Lindt chocolates in the cupboard.

They had been given to us as freebies when we used Sainsbury’s home shopping.

There was a plastic window in the cardboard box and the chocolates themselves were wrapped in a combination of foil and plastic.

There was no information on the box about the packaging or how to responsibly dispose of it. There was no recycling information on their website, just promises about environmental responsibility.

So true to my resolution of 2010 I contacted them to find out more.

Here is a copy of my letter:

Dear Sir,

We were recently given a sample of your Lindor Milk chocolates. I have a
question about your packaging.

Obviously the cardboard box can be recycled, but what about the other
packaging. Can you tell me what type of plastic the window is made from
and what material the chocolates are individually wrapped in please? It
looks like the individual packaging is some kind of plastic bonded onto
aluminium.

I also need to know how to responsibly dispose of these types of
packaging, so as not to create landfill waste.

I have read extensive pages about your packaging and CSR, but nothing that
specifically outlines the information I am looking for.

I look forward to your response,
Mrs Green

and here is a copy of their response (which I had after having my first email ignored and having to write to them again)

Dear Ms Green,

Firstly I would like to apologise for the delay in responding to your email.

Thank you for your email we received.

Please find below the answers to the questions you asked regarding our packaging.

What type of plastic is the window on the cornet -> OPP

What type of plastic is the ball wrapper -> OPP + ALU

Does the wrapper also contain aluminium? -> YES

Can this plastic be recycled? -> IT COULD NOT BE RECYCLED TOGETHER WITH PAPER (CORNET) OR WITH ALUMINIUM (SINGLE WRAP)

Once again I thank you for taking the time write to us as all comments and observations are appreciated.

Hmpf;  not exactly empowering is it? Basically I’m being told that none of the plastic components can be recycled. They haven’t suggested I remove the plastic from the cornet and recycle it separately and it would appear there is no way to remove the plastic that is bonded onto the aluminium of the ball wrapper.

There’s only one thing for it then – this packaging will be returned to sender with a letter explaining why and what we would like them to do about it.

What about you – have you contacted any manufacturers lately about packaging?  Thanks to Maisie’s suggestion, we have a new section dedicated to manufacturers responses – it’s called ‘packaging’ and you can see it on the menu list at the top of the site. If you have something to share please Contact me with full copies of what you wrote and the responses you had and I’ll publish them. This will help other readers shop in a more eco friendly way.

Don’t forget our zero waste shopping site too. If you’ve found something beautifully packaged with the environment in mind; go there, register and write about it on the site. Everything on that zero waste shopping site is fully searchable by packaging type, store or product type, so it will eventually become a great shopping resource.

About the Author ()

I am a long time supporter of the Green and Sustainable lifestyle. After being caught in the Boscastle floods in 2004, our family begun a journey to respect and promote the importance of Earth's fragile ecosystem, that focussed on reducing waste. Inspired by the beauty and resourcefulness of this wonderful planet, I have published numerous magazine articles on green issues and the author of four books.

Comments (6)

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  1. Karin says:

    Not good. I did buy some of their chocolate eggs this Easter, but they were wrapped in silver foil. I don’t buy Lindt as a rule because I’m not aware they’re made from Fairtrade ingredients. It is something we had at Easter when I was a child though, so I succumbed this year and bought some for our Easter egg hunt.

  2. Mrs Green says:

    @Karin: HI Karin, this isn’t something we would normally buy either, but as they were a freebie, Mr G felt obliged to eat them up and not have any food waste 😉 Hope you enjoyed the ones you had this year …

  3. hi. i found this hunting for comments from Lindt about this HUGE un-recyclable wrapping i have sitting here. it’s horrible that this stuff all ends up pin landfills 🙁 Next year i will buy more conscientiously

  4. Philippa says:

    So I tore out the plastic window ready to put the cardboard in the recycling and the plastic window and all the mixed plastic and foil wrappers in the residual waste. Then I suddenly had a feeling of deja vu. And here it is SEVEN YEARS LATER and the packaging has still not been changed!

    How disappointing. I didn’t buy this box of chocolates and I just won’t be buying any packed like this.

  5. Philippa says:

    Lindt is interesting though because they also manufacture blocks of chocolate which they pack in aluminium foil and card which is far better than Cadbury’s which stopped using foil and purple paper and went for unrecyclable plastic. It is still disappointing that they haven’t changed to recyclable for their Lindor chocolates though. If it doesn’t actually get recycled it doesn’t but at least it starts out with the chance. Do they feel that this is iconic packaging and so shouldn’t be changed or do they feel that because one lot of packaging is recyclable that the other doesn’t need to be? Like many we choose to buy food in recyclable packaging.

  6. Heather says:

    Hi Mrs Green,

    I try to recycle what I can, hence had the same question and came across your blog when googling for answers. I have just emailed Lindt & Sprungli Australia and what I thought was their International website, however both auto0acknowledgements have come back from Australia. My enquiry was as per below. I will be really interested to see what their response is.

    “I was fortunate to receive some of my favourite chocolates – Lindor balls – for Christmas, however I would love Lindor balls all the more if I didn’t have to separate the foil from the plastic wrappers (sometimes peels off reasonably easily, sometimes a very tedious chore), in order to recycle the wrappers. I would like you to express my strong disappointment that Lindt and Sprungli
    are yet to develop packaging that is more readily recyclable. I can only imagine how much Lindt & Sprungli packaging ends up in landfill and quite honestly, the thought horrifies me.

    Please advise what action you are taking to make your packaging completely recyclable and the timeline to do so,. I found an enquiry on the internet regarding the same from 2010 and still, the same difficult to recycle packaging exists 10 years later?!? Really? Come on, an international company like Lindt & Sprungli has an obligation to do better than this. Please lift your game, get on the front foot and make ALL of your packaging readily recyclable as a matter of urgency… PLEASE!”

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