Ritter Sport in Paper

Ritter Sport minis have now been available in secondary packaging made of paper since February. The confectionery manufacturer has also completed testing of paper as primary packaging for chocolate in Austria. The result was positive, but also revealed some need for optimization.

Since February 2021, Ritter Sport minis have been available in secondary packaging made of paper. This applies to the products “mini Bunte Tüte”, “mini Blaue Tüte”, “mini Knusper Tüte“, “mini Nuss Mix” and “mini Kakao Mix”, all of which are available in paper bags. For Ritter Sport, this is an important step on the way to more sustainable packaging, with which it intends to take a pioneering role in the competitive environment of small portioned chocolate products.

Ritter Sport’s goal is packaging that is made from renewable raw materials and can be recycled as a valuable material, as the company emphasizes. This goal is particularly ambitious when it comes to so-called primary packaging. With a limited edition in Austria, a Ritter Sport bar wrapped in paper was recently available in stores for the first time, at the retailer Billa. Following the experience gained with the 500 bars of a prototype, optimizations were tested in practice with a considerably larger number of units.

Further development steps required

According to Ritter Sport, the overall response was very positive, including the one the retail partner. The same paper was used for the Austrian limited edition as for the prototype, but with a heavier grammage. A development step that has paid off, as Ritter Sport reports. For example, the Limited Edition was able to score points in terms of tear resistance compared to the prototype. The packaging “passed the test from production to the shelf” quite well.

Ritter Sport sees a need for optimization in areas such as creases and scratches on the packaging. There is also a need for optimization above all in machine processing and packaging – a basic requirement for a volume manufacturer, as Ritter Sport emphasizes. In this respect, it will take a few more development steps before paper-based primary packaging will be ready for the market on a large scale.