From Cadbury to Lindt Easter eggs, here's how much packaging the nation's favourite brands are using

Easter eggs produced by the likes of Cadbury, Lindt and Mars will be gobbled up in their millions this month - but the amount of packaging these chocolate treats come wrapped in may leave a sour taste in some consumers’ mouths.

A consumer watchdog has weighed the packaging of the top 10 best-selling branded Easter eggs, revealing which ones will leave the recycling bins of chocolate lovers overflowing next Sunday.

Easter eggs unwrapped

Which? weighed all of the Easter eggs in their packaging and then again completely unwrapped. Here’s how they fared.

Thornton’s Classic Large Egg had the highest proportion of packaging, tipping the scales at 418g in its wrapping, but weighing a considerably less substantial 264g without. The packaging of this egg accounts for more than a third (36.4 per cent) of the entire product’s weight.

Thornton’s Classic Large Egg had the highest proportion of packaging, according to Which? analysis (Photo: Which?)

This was followed by Lindt’s Lindor Milk Chocolate Easter Egg which weighed in at 420g with its packaging and 302g without, meaning 28.1 per cent of the product’s weight can be attributed to the cardboard, plastic and foil wrapping.

Mars Milk Chocolate Easter Egg and Chocolate Bar came in third, measuring 188g with packaging and 142g without, a difference of 25.1 per cent.

Cadbury's giant Creme Egg has 168g of packaging (Photo: Which?)

And Cadbury's Giant Creme Egg, a perennial favourite, came just behind with 168g worth of packaging, accounting for 25.1 per cent of the product’s total 668g weight.

Cadbury eggs also took fifth and sixth position in the chart. The confectionery titan’s Mini Eggs Extra Large Easter Egg weighed 380g in its packaging and 288g without it, meaning just under a quarter (24.2 per cent) of the product comprises wrapping. And its Dairy Milk Extra Large Easter Egg weighed 678g in the box and 522g outside, a difference of 23 per cent.