Quality Street scraps colourful wrappers on its chocolates after 86 years

‘It’s a huge deal. And it’s a bit sad,’ chocolate historian Alex Hutchinson said

In a bid to become more environmentally friendly, Quality Street has scrapped colourful plastic wrappers on its chocolates after 86 years.

This move comes ahead of the Christmas rush this year, with Nestlé confirming it plans on getting rid of the see-through packaging and foil.

From now onwards, the chocolates will be wrapped in a duller form of waxed paper, which is recyclable.

Speaking of this decision, chocolate historian Alex Hutchinson said: “It’s a huge deal. And it’s a bit sad.

“Because when Harold Mackintosh originally launched Quality Street he specifically designed it to be an explosion of colour, different flavours, different shapes. The wrapping was absolutely key.”

Nestle’s head of sustainability Cheryl Allen said: “Quality Street is a brand that people feel very strongly about. We know that opening the lid and seeing ‘the jewels’, as we call them, is really important.

“We think we’ve done a really good job with the redesign, and feel confident that people will respond positively.”

Earlier this year, Quality Street announced the release of two new sharing bars of the classic Christmas favourites: The Purple One and The Orange One.

The new Quality Street chocolate bars (Nestle)

The Purple One contains a layer of caramel on top of a milk chocolate base filled with hazelnuts, while The Orange One consists of a milk chocolate shell containing an orange flavour filling and crunch orange-flavoured pieces.

Retailing at £1, the 87g bars are inspired by the flavours of the classic confections and are available for purchase in all UK supermarkets. The bars are also a permanent seasonal addition to the range.

Last year, the brand also introduced a new flavour to its popular selection tin, and it is the brand’s first-ever white chocolate sweet.

Packaged in a silver and gold wrapper, the domed sweet was created to taste like a crème caramel dessert with pieces of crunchy biscuit, encased in milk and white chocolate.