In a bid to improve its environmentally-friendly credentials, Mars will this week introduce recyclable paper wrappers on their signature chocolate bar.

The world-famous product is trialling the new packaging at 500 Tesco stores across the UK, replacing their more usual plastic wrappers which are not recyclable. Mars says it aims to make all its packaging “recyclable, reusable or compostable”, and the new material will provide an “adequate level of barrier properties to protect the chocolate”.

According to Mars, the change will make “200 million bars per year carbon neutral in the UK, Ireland and Canada”, the company recently announcing it had achieved carbon neutrality for the first time, which it said came through carbon credits and emission reductions.

Tesco packaging development manager, Andrew Flood, said the company was “delighted to partner with Mars", adding that the initiative aligned with Tesco's “own strategy of removing plastic and packaging” from its business.

The overuse of plastic wrappings has led to their accumulation in landfill along with millions of plastic items polluting seas and waterways across the planet, with countries like the Philippines finding tonnes of plastic washing up on their shores. Residents have even taken to creating makeshift bricks by stuffing the plastic into bottles and stacking them.