Mars Wrigley plans Halloween confectionery waste initiative
pic: Shutterstock
Mars Wrigley has moved to help minimise Halloween confectionery waste in working with digital waste and recycling business Rubicon Technologies for recyclable trick or treat bags, writes Neill Barston.
The ‘spooky season’ remains a multi-billion seasonal confectionery occasion in the US, with 93% of the population set to celebrate with sweets and snacks this October.
Consequently, Mars will offer specially designed new recyclable bags throughout this month as an expansion of Rubicon’s existing Trick or Trash campaign.
The collaboration aims to give Halloween lovers a simple, fun, and free way to tackle wrapper waste by providing trick-or-treat bags with a prepaid postage stamp and simple three-step instructions on how to return it for proper recycling. Once returned, each individual bag and the wrappers placed inside are fully recycled for future use.
With more than 75% of people planning to celebrate Halloween this year – up 11% from 2021 amid the pandemic, the company has traditionally focused on new ranges and community engagement projects for the season.
“Mars, and our iconic line-up of brands, put the consumer at the heart of all we do, especially during our biggest moments like Halloween,” said Tim LeBel, Chief Halloween Officer and President of Sales at Mars Wrigley. “Over the past few years, Mars has made sure consumers can celebrate their most loved Halloween traditions, like trick-or-treating, with innovations such as ‘Treat Town’ in 2020 and Shipt candy formula in 2021.
This year, our Halloween leadership highlights Mars’ commitment to a healthy planet by providing a simple way to minimise packaging waste with the Mars and Rubicon Trick or Trash bags.”
While Halloween is one of the most anticipated celebrations of the year, research noted by Rubicon shows the vast majority of wrappers from the 600 million pounds of candy purchased in the United States each season ends up in landfills due to limitations in most curbside recycling programmes.
Since 2019, Rubicon has provided schools, small businesses, and community organisations with free wrapper recycling boxes to help eliminate Halloween candy wrapper waste via its Trick or Trash campaign. Mars’ collaboration with Rubicon underscores the company’s commitment to contributing to a circular economy where packaging material never becomes waste, but is recycled, reused, or composted and supports the Mars Sustainable in a Generation Plan.
“Rubicon shares Mars’ commitment to creating a more sustainable future and we are proud to expand our Trick or Trash program this Halloween alongside one another,” said Nate Morris, Chairman and CEO of Rubicon. “We know that working with a variety of partners across industries is essential to keeping as much waste out of landfills as possible and we are proud to collaborate with Mars, a global leader in the Halloween season and one who demonstrates a strong commitment to protecting our environment.”
Trick or Trash bags are available to order online at Halloween.Mars.com starting today, October 5, 2022, along with a list of communities where the Trick or Trash bag can be found. To learn more about the Rubicon Trick or Trash box program, visit https://www.rubicon.com/trick-or-trash/.