As Halloween approaches, Mars has again put the consumer first by introducing an innovative collaboration to minimize wrapper waste this Halloween season. Working with leading digital waste and recycling solutions provider Rubicon Technologies, Inc., Mars will offer specially designed, recyclable, trick-or-treating bags throughout October as an expansion of Rubicon’s existing Trick or Trash™ campaign. The collaboration aims to give Halloween lovers a simple, fun, and free way to tackle wrapper waste by providing trick-or-treat bags with a prepaid postage stamp and simple three-step instructions on how to return it for proper recycling. Once returned, each individual bag and the wrappers placed inside are fully recycled for future use.
With more than 75% of people planning to celebrate Halloween this year – up 11% from 2021 – and 93% of people celebrating planning to do so with chocolate and candy,¹ Mars is preparing to meet consumers’ excitement.
“Mars, and our iconic line-up of brands, put the consumer at the heart of all we do, especially during our biggest moments like Halloween,” said Tim LeBel, Chief Halloween Officer and President of Sales at Mars Wrigley. “Over the past few years, Mars has made sure consumers can celebrate their most loved Halloween traditions, like trick-or-treating, with innovations such as ‘Treat Town™’ in 2020 and Shipt candy formula in 2021. This year, our Halloween leadership highlights Mars’ commitment to a healthy planet by providing a simple way to minimize packaging waste with the Mars and Rubicon Trick or Trash bags.”
While Halloween is one of the most anticipated celebrations of the year, research noted by Rubicon shows the vast majority of wrappers from the 600 million pounds of candy purchased in the United States each season ends up in landfills due to limitations in most curbside recycling programs. Since 2019, Rubicon has provided schools, small businesses, and community organizations with free wrapper recycling boxes to help eliminate Halloween candy wrapper waste via its Trick or Trash campaign. Mars’ collaboration with Rubicon underscores the company’s commitment to contributing to a circular economy where packaging material never becomes waste, but is recycled, reused, or composted and supports the Mars Sustainable in a Generation Plan.
“Rubicon shares Mars’ commitment to creating a more sustainable future and we are proud to expand our Trick or Trash program this Halloween alongside one another,” said Nate Morris, Chairman and CEO of Rubicon. “We know that working with a variety of partners across industries is essential to keeping as much waste out of landfills as possible and we are proud to collaborate with Mars, a global leader in the Halloween season and one who demonstrates a strong commitment to protecting our environment.”
