Energy Rethinking - use less save more

They are a holiday tradition. Without mentioning any brand names, we can probably say that most people have at least a passing familarity with those chocolate and toffee-based, individually wrapped, mixed sweets packed in tins or cardboard boxes and named after the avenue where the elite meet and greet. And it’s the rare British home that doesn’t set out a tin of them or receive one as a gift.

They’ve been in made in Halifax, West Yorkshire, since 1936 and are named after a J. M. Barrie play which, coincidentally, was called “Quality Street.”  Okay, the cat’s out of the bag. People have been recycling the tins for years – up and down the UK they have a second life holding sewing bits and bobs, pennies, receipts, romantic mementoes as well as biscuits and – even more sweets.

But lately, maybe you’ve been a bit concerned about all that wrapping – especially the lurid coloured cellophanes and foils.

Well you can relax.

Except for a small pane of clear film on the front of the cardboard box version, all the wrappings are either recyclable or biodegradable. The cardboard package even has instructions for recycling.

• The cellophane separates from the foil inner wrapper of each sweet. Save up the cellophanes and add them to your compost heap – they are completely biodegradable.
• Save the foils separately – they can be recycled with your tins.
• And peel the film window out of the cardboard box before discarding the box with your other paper recycling.

Oh, and the tin? Well you know what to do with that. Save it for grandma’s buttons.