Easter Egg Alternative Ideas

Easter is another time of the year when a huge amount of waste packaging is produced.

Have you ever purchased an Easter egg, only to be disappointed by the amount of chocolate you actually get, once you have unwrapped it from all the packaging? Plastic, foil and cardboard often stand in the way of you and your hollow egg. ..or egg filled with a few individually packaged treats inside. The weight of all that packaging adds up quickly and often it outweighs the amount of chocolate you are getting. You end up paying for packaging rather than chocolate!

What can you do? Choose an egg with reduced packaging, a smaller box or with recyclable materials. If your egg comes in a cardboard box, remember to recycle it! Cardboard can be recycled at Inverness Recycling Centre on Henderson Drive. Alternatively, if you have a composter, you can compost the cardboard. Composters need a 50/50 mix of green waste and brown materials and cardboard is a brown material. You can also compost your Easter flowers.

Easter takes place every year and if you love chocolate eggs, why not buy a couple of egg moulds and make your own? Moulds are available on-line, in cookware shops, or in large department stores. Making eggs is a great activity to do with kids and who knows, you may even surprise yourself when you see how easy it is. Click here for a chocolate egg recipe.  It’s much cheaper in the long run and fun too!

Another recipe idea is making chocolate Easter nests using up leftover (bottom of the box crumbly bits) of shredded wheat, rice krispies or cornflakes. You can top the chocolate nests with mini chocolate eggs or jelly beans. Either of these ideas could be egg-xactly the answer you are looking for when trying to reduce how much waste we produce!

It’s important to remember that reducing packaging waste isn’t just for Easter. Lots of products that we buy throughout the year are sold in more than one option. Look out for the less waste options. Buy loose produce. Snack and individual portion items can be more convenient, but they really contain more packaging. Buy in bulk and divide them into reusable containers to reduce packaging.  Happy Easter!