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Cadbury is trialling a cardboard replacement for its traditional Roses chocolates tin in a bid to reach its packaging weight reduction targets for seasonal and gift packaging.

The confectionery giant said the new format, which is being trialled at Tesco this Christmas, is 45% lighter and saves 200 tonnes of steel. Cadbury hopes that tapping into consumer demand for sustainable packaging will boost sales.

Jo Grice, Cadbury's head of marketing for giving and seasonal, described the box as "an environmental twist on a festive favourite".

"Reducing the packaging across many of our popular ranges such as selection packs and tree decorations is our way of giving the planet a gift this Christmas and will help us meet our environmental commitments," she said.

Nick Mullen, director of the Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association, said that while brands were free to change their packaging as they see fit, the environmental aspect of the decision was a concern.

"Metal is known to be one of the easiest and most commonly recycled packaging materials and any reference to material being wasted is wholly unfounded," he said.

"The drive to use materials efficiently and make waste obsolete is led by metal: it's the only material which does not degrade when recycled and reprocessed so can be  recycled again and again with no loss of quality. 

Mullen added chocolates in tins had proven a "real winner as a Christmas gift option" for many years and their subsequent use as cake and biscuit containers and countless other uses was integral to the product.

Cadbury's Purple Goes Green strategy includes a pledge to reduce seasonal and gift product packaging by 25% by next year.

Cadbury's selection boxes have been reduced by an average of 32% across the range, the equivalent of 400 tonnes of cardboard, and the firm is introducing a 28% reduction in its packaging for tree decorations.

The Roses box, which is also being used for Heroes chocolates, will be used in other stores if consumer feedback is good, Cadbury said. In testing, consumers found the box was more practical and easier to wrap.

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