GATWICK, UK – Next week, shoppers will see a first-of-its-kind Nestlé ‘s Quality Street tub on selected Tesco supermarket shelves. The iconic Christmas brand is launching a paper tub, and Nestlé will be trialling it in collaboration with Tesco. More than 200,000 paper tubs will go out to selected Tesco stores this festive season, carrying around 150 tonnes of the popular sweets in total. The trial is another step on Nestlé’s journey to reduce virgin plastic.
The paper tub, which comes in the signature Quality Street purple, has a luxurious design and feel, and is embellished with gold foil. The integrated re-close feature of the tub allows it to be securely closed once opened. Once empty, it can be put in household recycling.
Before going on sale, the tub has been subjected to significant testing to ensure food quality and freshness while being transported and stored.
Quality Street will be evaluating the tub’s popularity with shoppers, feedback from supply chain teams and in-store teams at Tesco, as the iconic brand continues to innovate and seek ways to improve the sustainability of its packaging.
Jemma Handley, Senior Brand Manager for Quality Street, said: “We’re looking forward to seeing what Quality Street fans make of the paper tub. A lot of care and hard work has gone into the trial and we’re proud to be the first major manufacturer to trial a paper tub at Christmas. The beautiful design has been devised specifically for a paper product and we love how it looks, and of course, shoppers can expect the same great tasting Quality Street sweets that they know and love inside.”
“We know there are some Quality Street fans who, controversially, like to put their wrappers back in the tub once they’ve eaten them – with the paper tub, they can put the paper wrappers back for a good reason – it can go straight into the recycling.”
Cheryl Allen, Head of Sustainability – Confectionery Europe at Nestlé, said: “The Quality Street paper tub is an exciting innovation that we’re really proud of here at Nestlé Confectionery. We’re committed to making our packaging more sustainable, keeping in mind the changing needs of shoppers and advancements in technology. Of course, with all potential packaging changes, we want to get it right, so this trial will bring us valuable information to inform our next steps as we keep pushing to reduce our use of virgin plastic.”
As part of the brand’s sustainability journey. In 2022, Quality Street moved to recyclable paper packaging for its twist-wrapped sweets. By replacing the double layer of foil and cellulose with a single paper wrap, Quality Street removed almost two billion pieces of packaging material from the brand’s supply chain.
Earlier this year, Nestle UK & Ireland announced that it would use traceable cocoa ingredients in all its UK-made chocolate. Quality Street is now made using cocoa mass that has been specifically sourced from cocoa farming families that are part of Nestlé’s Income Accelerator Programme.
Building on the work of Nestlé’s Cocoa Plan, the Income Accelerator programme was created in January 2022 to help close the living income gap of cocoa-farming families and reduce child labour risks within the supply chain. After a successful test with 10,000 cocoa farming families, the programme has now scaled up to 30,000 families across Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
By 2030, the programme aims to reach an estimated 160,000 cocoa-farming families in Nestlé’s cocoa supply chain to create impact at scale.
