John Lewis Partnership to stop selling Christmas crackers with plastic toys inside
MONDAY 21 OCTOBER 2019
Today, John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners have announced that this will be the last Christmas when they sell Christmas crackers with plastic toys inside. Instead crackers will be filled with toys made from recyclable materials such as metal and paper games, and decorated with techniques such as embossing, rather than plastic glitter. The decision has been made as part of the Partnership’s plans to cut down on single use plastic products.
This year John Lewis & Partners is selling three own brand designs of ‘fill your own’ crackers, and so far these are proving to be the most popular crackers, accounting for one in every three packets of crackers sold.
In time for this Christmas John Lewis & Partners has reduced the amount of plastic glitter on its own brand range of Christmas wrapping paper, gift bags and tags, advent calendars and crackers by two-thirds. Today, the retailer has announced that the ranges of these single use items which are being ordered now from suppliers for next Christmas will not contain any plastic glitter.
In addition, John Lewis has already removed the plastic wrapping from vast majority of the individual cards it sells and estimates that this alone will save eight tonnes of plastic each year.
Dan Cooper, Partner and Head Christmas Buyer at John Lewis said; “Reducing the amount of single use plastic in products and packaging is really important to us and our customers.
“One of the challenges I face as a buyer is that we plan 18 months ahead so it takes time for changes to become a reality. I’m always searching for new, more sustainable products which will make Christmas sparkle but won’t end up spoiling our environment.”
All of the real Christmas trees sold in John Lewis are grown in the UK and all of its tinsel is made in Wales.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Waitrose & Partners
Waitrose & Partners has already confirmed that by Christmas 2020, its own label cards, wraps, crackers, tags, flowers and plants will either be glitter-free or the retailer will use an environmentally friendly alternative.
About the John Lewis Partnership
The John Lewis Partnership owns and operates two of Britain's best-loved retail brands - John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners. Started as a radical idea nearly a century ago, the Partnership is now the largest employee-owned business in the UK, with 81,500 employees who are all Partners in the business and share in its profits. The Partnership operates on strong democratic principles, which means that every Partner has a say in how the organisation is run. The business has annual gross sales of over £11.7bn, 394 shops and a leading online business. Its commercial strategy is focused on differentiation rather than scale, through investment in innovation and Partner led service.