Trick or trash: Plastic waste a dilemma for candy makers
Halloween treats have a tricky problem: plastic packaging that’s difficult to recycle.
As America loads up on an estimated 600 million pounds of candy for Halloween, a handful of companies are trying to make it easier to recycle all those wrappers. But they acknowledge their efforts are only making a small dent and say more fundamental changes are needed.
Since the beginning of October, Mars — the maker of Snickers and M&Ms — has distributed 17,400 candy waste collection bags to U.S. consumers through its website and at community events. The bags can be filled with wrappers and packaging from any brand and mailed free to a specialty recycler in Lake Zurich, Illinois. That recycler, G2 Revolution, forms the packages into pellets and uses them to make waste bags for dogs.
The bags can hold around 4 ounces of material; if all 17,400 are returned, that would equal more than 2 tons of recycled wrappers. Even then, the program would still address just a fraction of the problem.
“What I’d like to see is this program actually goes away over time and we have a solution where it’s no longer required and we’re fully recyclable,” said Tim LeBel, president of sales for Mars Wrigley U.S.
Mars is partnering with Lexington, Kentucky-based Rubicon Technologies, a consultant and software provider that connects companies and municipalities to recyclers. Since 2019, Rubicon has had its own program called Trick or Trash, which mails one free box to schools, businesses and community groups to collect candy wrappers for recycling. An additional box,
or a box for personal use, is $100; Rubicon says that covers the cost of making the box, shipping it both ways and recycling the wrappers. Rubicon expects to send out 5,000 boxes this year.
Mars and Rubicon won’t say how much they’re spending on their Halloween programs. Rubicon notes that it pays extra to UPS to offset the carbon emissions from shipping.
But plastic wrappers are a challenge for recycling companies. They often contain a mix of materials, like foil, which must be separated. They have to be cleaned to remove grease, oil and other food waste. They’re multicolored, so when mixed together they are an unappealing brown.
Even when companies do go to the effort of recycling candy wrappers, they produce such a low-value plastic that it doesn’t recoup the cost of recycling.
As a result, a lot of plastic packaging is thrown away. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 21% of trash going into landfills in 2018 was containers and packaging.
Candy makers say they’re
spending millions to develop packaging that is easier to recycle or compost.
Mondelez’s Cadbury introduced more easily recyclable packaging — made of 30% recycled plastic — in some markets this year. Mars recently partnered with Danimer Scientific, a biotech company, to develop compostable packaging. Hershey has set a goal of making all its packaging easily recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2030.
The National Confectioners Association, which represents the candy industry, says federal, state and local governments also need to invest in more advanced recycling.
But Janet Dominitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, said recycling alone will never keep up with the packaging waste people generate. Dominitz said single-use plastic packaging needs to be eliminated altogether.
“The problem isn’t the number of candy wrappers on Halloween, but the 365 days a year that our infrastructure is set up to throw away,” she said.