Have yourself a green Easter.
It’s a gorgeous sunny day today, I’m sitting outside with my laptop whilst Lily places in the sandpit and it definitely feels like spring is here! This weekend is Easter and as much as I love to receive a nice Easter egg, I have been thinking about the huge amount of money that we spend on these each year. In 2008, it is predicted that we will spend 520m on Easter eggs! Luckily, my daughter doesn’t like chocolate so I won’t need to feel guilty if I ask relatives not to buy her any eggs.
Of course it’s not just the financial implications of Easter eggs. They create a huge amount of waste in themselves. Each egg is wrapped in foil, then wrapped in plastic and then wrapped in cardboard. Add to that any extra contents that may also be wrapped in foil and that’s a huge amount of waste going into the bin. Hopefully many people will recycle these contents but how many people actually do?
If you’re looking for a ‘greener’ egg this year then why not try The Chocolate Alchemist. They have a fantastic range of organic Easter eggs including white chocolate with raspberry, white chocolate with blueberry and cranberry and dark chocolate with hot and spicy ginger! All their eggs come with minimal packaging without compromising on it’s attractiveness.
For children, they offer hollow chocolate ducks or solid chocolate bunnies, all made from organic ingredients. These come wrapped in a clear bag with a ribbon, again minimising packaging.
To view the eggs vist www.thechocolatealchemist.co.uk and you can order by calling 01798 860 995
Many other manufacturers are listening to the environmental concerns being raised about this excessive packaging. Cadburys have launched a range of ‘eco-eggs’ called the Cadbury Treasure eggs. These are simply wrapped with foil - no paper or plastic is involved in the packaging at all. They have also pledged to cut the amount of plastic in their small and medium sized eggs. They will save 1130 tonnes of packaging this easter. I’m sure this will prove popular with ethical consumers and hopefully other companies will start to follow suit.
If you want to ensure your eggs are made from organic chocolate then Green and Blacks is always a good choice. Their milk chocolate eggs contain 34% cocoa solids to ensure an intensely chocolatey taste. Green and Blacks also use recycled card for their packaging.
So for the green and ethical chocoholics amongst us - we can still enjoy a yummy egg this easter without feeling guilty. Mind you, I’m afraid we can’t do much about the calories!…………