Skip to content

Choose your chocolate wisely: sustainable Easter Eggs

It can be a minefield choosing the right Easter Eggs for a loved one: have you bought them a flavour of chocolate they hate? Is it big enough to show you care? Does it come with a rubbish mug that will clutter up the cupboard for the next five years (you know the ones we mean!)

And the big question: is it sustainable? Here are some top tips to make sure your Easter Eggs aren’t only irresistible, but great for the planet too.

Look for the frog

No, not one of the frogs that live in our Tropical House! Look for the frog on the Rainforest Alliance logo to ensure that your products are both good for the planet and for people. The Rainforest Alliance works with farmers and forest communities in a variety of tropical landscapes to promote sustainable land management practices that protect nature and boost rural livelihoods. They also work with companies and governments across the globe to promote responsible business practices and fair working conditions.

Buy fairtrade

Fairtrade certified products are ones that meet a set of standards throughout the production and supply process. For farmers and workers, this means ensuring workers’ rights, safe working conditions and fair pay. For customers, it guarantees that you’ll be receiving high-quality, ethically-produced products.

Cut the rubbish

Opt for Easter Eggs without unnecessary packaging. Thankfully chocolate manufacturers are starting to realise that we don’t want or need endless amounts of plastic and cardboard surrounding our eggs. Just this week, the Mars company – which makes popular treats like Snickers, Maltesers and Galaxy – announced that 97% of its Easter Eggs are now plastic-free. However, it’s always important to check that plastic isn’t lurking in your packaging. Whatever egg you opt for, make sure to reuse and recycle as much of your packaging as possible. You probably knew that foil could be recycled already, but did you know that it can also be used to sharpen knives and scissors or even to sour away tough stains on pots and pans?

Choose sustainable palm oil

Depending on how palm oil is grown, it can be a wonder crop or something that is decimating our rainforests. Make sure you choose wisely this Easter and opt to buy from companies that only use sustainably-sourced palm oil. This means pledging not to clear primary rainforest, limiting planting on peatlands, having transparent supply chains, monitoring and reducing the amount of carbon emitted, and creating wildlife zones.

A lot of different companies have pledged to use 100% certifiable palm oil – from independent makers to supermarket giants – so it’s worth checking out their palm oil policies before buying their goods. To help you out, here are just a few of the retailers that have committed to using sustainable palm oil in their products:

Supermarkets

  • Waitrose
  • The Co-operative
  • Sainsbury’s
  • Marks & Spencer’s
  • Tesco

Producers

  • Thorntons
  • Godiva
  • Kinder
  • Nestle
  • Lindt
  • Mars
  • Ferrero

Here at Newquay Zoo, we are committed to using sustainably-sourced palm oil in all of our products. Keep an eye-out on our website, and across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for future updates on how we are promoting the use of sustainable palm oil, and how you can make a difference too.