McVitie’s Biscuit Wrapper Brigade saves one million used biscuit wrappers from landfill

31 July 2015


McVitie's Biscuit Wrapper Brigade saves one million used biscuit wrappers from landfill

Innovative recycling fundraising scheme saves 2.5 tonnes worth of biscuit wrappers from UK landfill and raises over £35,000 for charities in the process

United Biscuits (UB), the leading manufacturer of biscuits and cakes, today announces it has reached a major milestone with its McVitie's Biscuit Wrapper Brigade partnership with TerraCycle.

 

The McVitie's Biscuit Wrapper Brigade is a recycling fundraising scheme designed to save used biscuit wrappers from UK landfill and recycle them into new products. Today it has reached the one million milestone in terms of the number of used biscuit wrappers collected, the combined weight of which is 2.5 tonnes which is the equivalent weight of four and a half Fiat 500 cars. If all the collected wrappers were piled on top of each other end to end it would reach 210,000 metres in height which is 253 times the size of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building.

 

The McVitie's Biscuit Wrapper Brigade was launched in the UK in 2012 in partnership with recycling experts TerraCycle. Although biscuit wrapper material is recyclable, the partnership was established as UK councils currently do not have the infrastructure to recycle this type of waste packaging.

 

The TerraCycle process offers consumers various ways to recycle their used biscuit wrappers via the McVitie's Biscuit Wrapper Brigade depositing at their nearest drop off location or sending wrappers individually. Consumers are rewarded with two points for every biscuit wrapper sent in, with each point redeemable as a one pence contribution to the school, charity or non-profit of the senders' choice. To date over £35,000 has been raised for a variety of worthy schools, charities and non-profit organisations.

 

The collected waste biscuit wrappers are then recycled by TerraCycle with the resulting pellet material used to make a variety of generic plastic products such as park benches, watering cans and waste bins, reducing the need to extract new resources from the planet.

 

Jon Eggleton, United Biscuits' Managing Director UK, comments: "We are delighted on the progress to date of the McVitie's Biscuit Wrapper Brigade . The programme has been embraced by people all over the UK to save used biscuit wrappers from landfill, increasing environmental awareness and raise over £35,000 to help support a variety of schools, charities and non-profit organisations."

 

Stephen Clarke, TerraCycle UK added: "We were delighted when such an iconic brand as McVitie's partnered with us to take ownership of what happens to used biscuit wrappers in the UK. In saving one million used biscuit wrappers from landfill and the growth in collections month on month, the McVitie's Biscuit Wrapper Brigade is making a real difference in both saving waste from landfill and raising awareness of the importance of recycling".


For further press information please contact:

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7009 3100

Email: UnitedBiscuitsCorp@3-monkeys.co.uk

 

 



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