Mondelēz replaces plastic cookie trays with paper across Europe

Mondelēz International has replaced PET trays with FSC-certified paper trays across its European cookie range. 

The transition impacts more than 115 cookie products across eight brands, including Milka, Cadbury, Marabou, and Chips Ahoy! 

“This is a transformation we are proud to have engineered from the ground up. Replacing rigid plastic with paper across 115 products, 8 brands, and 25 European markets in a matter of months required rethinking every layer of our packaging, from tray design to logistics,” says Olivier Kintzig, biscuits packaging director, Europe, at Mondelēz. 

The transition is expected to contribute to the company’s reduced plastic goals. According to Mondelēz, introducing paper trays is expected to remove approximately 2,200 metric tons of virgin plastic per year, representing an 80% reduction compared to the original plastic packaging.

The company says it is responding to what “consumers across Europe care about,” which is packaging that is easily recyclable and reduces virgin plastic content. At the same time as Mondelēz’s transition to paper-based packaging, the EU is has adopted the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which mandates that brands design for recyclability and reduce virgin plastic content.

Biscuit segment overhaul

The move builds on the previous Mondelēz transition to fiber-based materials. In the UK, it trialed Cadbury Heroes in paper tubs and introduced paper out packaging for Cadbury Animals and Mini Finer Biscuits Multipacks.

The company says that the transition is the “largest single packaging sustainability initiative ever undertaken in the company’s European bakery category,” covering approximately 28,000 metric tons of cookies produced annually.

Joanna Dias, UK and Ireland sustainability lead at Mondelēz, adds: “In the UK and Ireland, we’ve delivered a variety of recent sustainable packaging innovations for products such as Cadbury Heroes, Cadbury Mini Eggs, and Cadbury Dairy Milk, and the introduction of paper trays for our cookies is further success on our journey toward bringing consumers products they love in more sustainable packaging.”

The initiative is part of Mondelēz’s broader transition to more eco-conscious packaging in the bakery sector. It builds on a previous innovation, which has included the incorporation of approximately 80% recycled PET into trays for brands such as Milka, Oreo, Cadbury, and Chips Ahoy!

Recently, Mondelēz also rolled out packaging featuring 75% recycled content using LYB’s chemically recycled polymers and an ISCC Plus certified mass balance approach.

Meanwhile, Amcor provided Mondelēz with its AmFiniti recycled content for the films used to wrap Cadbury’s 2026 Easter chocolate range in the UK and Ireland.