British retailer M&S has removed glitter from its entire Christmas range this year in an effort to boost recyclability and reduce microplastics.
While it seems too early to be talking about Christmas, M&S has made an announcement that is cause for celebration: this year, its entire Christmas celebration range will be glitter-free, including greeting cards, wrapping paper, tags, gift bags, calendars and crackers. The British retailer has also removed glitter from its festive flowers, plants and single-use packaging for food products.
Instead, all designs that had previously featured glitter have been replaced with innovative paper patters or minimal foils to maintain the festive sparkle will improve recyclability.
In an effort to further reduce waste, the majority of boxed cards have transitioned from plastic to card packaging, saving almost 50 tonnes of plastic alone. M&S has also added clear recycling instructions to its Christmas wrapping paper rolls with helpful tips, such as how to remove tape and add-ons like bows.
The move is part of M&S’ commitment to offer 100% glitter-free cards and gift-wrapping products by the end of 2020.
“We know reducing single-use plastics is as important to our customers as it is to our business, so removing glitter from our cards and wrap range will make it easier for them to celebrate Christmas in a more sustainable way,” said Paul Willgoss, Director of Food Technology at M&S. “This is a step in the right direction as we continue working on our plans to completely remove glitter from the range next year.”
As part of its plastic reduction plan, M&S has already removed 1,000 tonnes of plastic packaging from across its business and is working to ensure all its packaging is widely recyclable by 2022.
Image credit: Marks & Spencer
