Nestlé trials recyclable paper tubs for Quality Street

Nestlé is set to introduce a trial run of a paper-based Quality Street tub in partnership with Tesco.

Starting next week, over 200,000 of these new tubs will be available in select Tesco stores, containing around 150 tonnes of the brand’s popular sweets. This initiative is part of Nestlé’s ongoing effort to reduce the use of virgin plastic in its packaging.

The new tub features Quality Street's iconic purple design with gold foil embellishments and a re-closable feature. It is fully recyclable through household recycling systems. The paper tubs have undergone extensive testing to ensure they maintain the same food quality and freshness during transport and storage.

Nestlé will be gathering feedback from shoppers, as well as supply chain and in-store teams, to evaluate the success of this trial.

In addition to the paper tubs, consumers will still be able to purchase the traditional plastic tub, tin, pouch, and carton options in stores nationwide this Christmas.

Jemma Handley, Senior Brand Manager for Quality Street, said: We’re looking forward to seeing what Quality Street fans make of the paper tub. A lot of care and hard work has gone into the trial and we’re proud to be the first major manufacturer to trial a paper tub at Christmas. The beautiful design has been devised specifically for a paper product and we love how it looks, and of course, shoppers can expect the same great tasting Quality Street sweets that they know and love inside.

We know there are some Quality Street fans who, controversially, like to put their wrappers back in the tub once they’ve eaten them - with the paper tub, they can put the paper wrappers back for a good reason - it can go straight into the recycling.

This move follows Quality Street’s 2022 switch to recyclable paper packaging for its twist-wrapped sweets, which helped eliminate nearly two billion pieces of packaging material.