Repak stresses that Easter is an egg-cellent time to recycle

CONSUMERS must act responsibly to ensure the packaging of five million Easter eggs does not end up discarded in landfill sites, it was urged yesterday.

Repak called upon people as they tucked into their chocolate eggs to spare a thought for where the valuable packaging could end up.

It is estimated over 375,000 kilos of packaging waste will be generated by the five million chocolate eggs consumed this Easter weekend.

Darrell Crowe of Repak, the industry -funded recycling scheme, said: “We are calling on everyone to make a special effort this Easter to recycle as much used packaging as possible.”

Irish households are expected to eat over one million kilograms of chocolate over the Easter period, with around seven out of 10 adults giving chocolate eggs as gifts.

The average household will buy around five eggs, sending the Easter egg market soaring towards 30 million.

Mr Crowe said: “Easter is a special time of celebration and gift giving but as a result, generates a lot of additional used packaging.

“Our research also showed that three quarters of those who give Easter eggs claim they recycle some part of their packaging.”

A survey from Repak also revealed that seven out of 10 people claim to recycle the cardboard from eggs, one in two carefully dispose of the plastic inserts and a quarter say they recycle the foil wrappings.

The research, which was carried out among 1,200 adults earlier this month, showed that people buy almost a fifth of all the Easter eggs sold for themselves.

It also emerged that over half of all Easter eggs are bought for children or teenagers, with a third purchased for adults.

One in three adults pick their Easter egg according to its extravagant presentation rather than the taste of the chocolate. Over 40% of those surveyed believe that presentation is the main reason that eggs are packaged in foil, plastic and cardboard.

In addition to the millions of eggs being eaten, an extra 15 million beverage cans and one million bottles of wine will be consumed over this bank holiday weekend. The survey revealed that around a quarter of those over 18 years of age claimed they have a few alcoholic drinks with family and friends on Good Friday.

Repak said the valuable packaging which surrounds the weekend’s food and drink could be recycled through household recyclable bins, bring banks or recycling centres.