Cadbury Australia and Amcor have signed a deal for the global packaging company to supply around 1000 tonnes of post-consumer recycled plastic to wrap around Cadbury’s core chocolate range. The agreement will halve Cadbury’s reliance on virgin plastic for the included products, parent company Mondelēz says.
The announcement builds on Cadbury’s adoption of wrappers containing 30 per cent recycled plastic in 2022 for its 160–185-gram Dairy Milk family blocks. Amcor has been supplying the material from imported sources.
This deal will increase the amount of recycled plastic from 30 to 50 per cent across its chocolate blocks, bars, and pieces range on a mass balance basis. It will include Cherry Ripe, Crunchie, and Twirl, as well as wrappers for individual pieces in Roses and Favourites boxes.
Mondelez International.
Mondelēz International Australia, New Zealand, and Japan president, Darren O’Brien, said a circular packaging economy is a focus for the business.
“This latest deal to purchase recycled plastic is another important step in our journey. By creating confidence in the market for recycled material, we’re helping to build a future for plastic recycling in this country,” O’Brien said.
Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific president, Mike Cash, said Amcor was proud to be working with Mondelēz as it moves to a more sustainable company.
“We partnered with Mondelēz International when they made the first step to move to recycled content for their Cadbury Dairy Milk family blocks packaging, now we’re helping them elevate this ambition by sourcing around 1000 tonnes of recycled plastic to help reduce virgin material across more of the Cadbury chocolate portfolio.
“Being able to source this significant volume of recycled material for Mondelēz International gives them the opportunity to differentiate and grow and demonstrates the collective commitment of Mondelēz International’s leadership,” Cash said.
This announcement is another piece of a growing collaboration between Mondelēz and Amcor. In August 2023, they signed major investment agreements in Licella Holdings to accelerate construction of its advanced recycling facility in Altona North, Melbourne. The facility will use Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor technology to create a circular economy for soft plastic waste.
The new facility in Melbourne, managed by Advanced Recycling Victoria (ARV), is scheduled to open in 2025 and will initially process around 20,000 tonnes per annum of end-of-life plastic, with plans to scale up to around 120,000 tonnes per annum.
O’Brien said, “We’re committed to taking the lead and responding to our consumers who we know want their soft plastic wrappers to be recycled again and again. We set new ground when we sourced the equivalent of 30 per cent recycled content for our Cadbury family blocks but our ambitions are much greater than this.
“We’re on a mission to becoming the most sustainable snacking company in Australia and New Zealand and by collaborating with peers and investing in better systems at scale, we’re making our business more resilient, while creating long-term value for the country and world at large.”
