Irish chocolate lovers to recycle 69,000 tonnes of Easter egg waste this year

New research from environmental not-for-profit organisation Repak found that 94pc of people hope to recycle the packaging from Easter chocolates correctly this weekend.

Cardboard boxes, tinfoil, and plastic molds from festive goodies can all go in the recycling bin once they are clean and dry.

The survey of 1,000 adults found that 88pc admit that an Easter egg having recyclable packaging is not the most important thing when selecting which product they want, with just over 50pc deeming the type of chocolate to be the most important.

Milk chocolate is the most popular Easter egg people hope to receive with almost four of five ruling it the top flavour, followed by white chocolate (18pc), dark chocolate (17pc) and plant-based or vegan (4pc).

Almost three quarters of the participants said that healthy eating will go out the window so they can indulge in chocolate.

And 32pc of people said they planned to buy five or more eggs to give as gifts to loved ones, spending between €21 and €40 on chocolates. 31pc plan to spend less, forking out between €10 to €20 on Easter eggs.

Almost a third expect to receive two eggs, while 22pc expect to receive one.

Many of the chocolate lovers racing to tuck into their eggs today hail from the east coast, according to new research by Tony's Chocolonely.

The Dutch confectionary company examined Google searches for chocolate in each county and determined that Dubliners had the biggest sweet tooth, making up for almost half of all search traffic.

Coming in second place, residents of Cork made up 10pc of searches in the last year while Galway placed third at 4pc.

Kildare landed the fourth spot with 3.5pc of searches and Meath came in fifth at 3pc.

The top five counties were followed by Limerick, Louth, Wicklow, Tipperary, and Kerry, which finish off the top 10.

Séamus Clancy, CEO of Repak, encouraged Irish people to recycle their Easter egg containers over the bank holiday weekend.

“While many of us are preparing to settle down to a relaxing long weekend and indulge in Easter eggs, waste operators across Ireland will be anticipating a heavy influx of packaging following Easter celebrations.

“By placing all recyclable items in the recycling bin clean, dry, and loose, we will be supporting their work.

“As now all plastics can go in the recycling bin, we have a great opportunity to help reach Ireland’s ambitious future plastic recycling target of 50% of all plastic by 2025, set by the EU”.