As soon as the mince pies and Christmas puddings have left the shops, we suddenly face chocolate eggs and hot-cross buns!
It’s easy to get caught up in the consumerism surrounding Easter yet there are some simple things we can do to reduce our impact on the environment and even benefit local businesses. Here’s how:
Think about packaging.
Did you know that each year 8,000 tonnes of waste is generated from Easter egg packaging and cards alone1? One way to reduce the waste - if you can’t find package-free Easter gifts - is to go for options with less packaging or packaging which is recyclable. (Note: some of the finish on cardboard packaging can make it unrecyclable).
Buy local.
There’s no better way to support local businesses this Easter than through buying local. Investigate whether there are any local chocolate manufacturers where you live. It might be a little more expensive, but at a time where it’s easy to over-indulge, this may help to promote quality over quantity.
Avoid palm oil.
Did you know that a lot of the chocolate we consume contains palm oil? Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil which is found in about 50% of packaged products on our supermarket shelves2. As a result of deforestation associated with palm oil plantations, it's estimated that 98% of Indonesia’s forests will be gone in 5 years3?
But chocolate-lovers, stay calm. You can look out for products which use sustainable palm oil or are palm-oil free. Here is a list of palm-oil free chocolate products:
- Haigh's Chocolate
- Koko Black
- Whittaker's
- Lindt & Sprungli – Lindt Excellence and Lindt Creation chocolate blocks (Note that filled products such as Lindor do contain palm oil)
- Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate blocks – Dairy Milk, Old Gold, Dream
- Cadbury Green & Black's chocolate blocks (except Butterscotch; Raisin & Hazelnut)
- Aldi Stores: Choceur, Just Organics, Moser-Roth
Palm oil deforestation has already destroyed over 80% of orangutans' natural habitats in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Also in Saving & Budgeting
1 https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/eggcellent-how-make-easter-sustainable-one/
2 https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/which-everyday-products-contain-palm-oil
3 https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/eggcellent-how-make-easter-sustainable-one/
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