Mars and Rubicon Halloween 2022 Innovation: Tackling Packaging Waste

Always delighting consumers, Halloween authority introduces recyclable trick-or-treat bags to help minimize wrapper waste this season

NEWARK, NJ, October 5, 2022— 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. (NYSE: RBT), 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.”

Trick or Trash bags are available to order online at Halloween.Mars.com starting today, October 5, 2022, along with a list of communities where the Trick or Trash bag can be found. To learn more about the Rubicon Trick or Trash box program visit https://www.rubicon.com/trick-or-trash/.

About Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. As a global, family-owned business, Mars is transforming, innovating, and evolving to make a positive impact on the world.

Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of quality confectionery, food, and pet care products and services, we employ 140,000+ dedicated Associates. With almost $45 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including Ben’s Original™, CESAR®, Cocoavia®, DOVE®, EXTRA®, KIND®, M&M’s®, SNICKERS®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, and WHISKAS®. We are creating a better world for pets through our global network of pet hospitals and diagnostic services – including AniCura, BANFIELD™, BLUEPEARL™, Linnaeus and VCA™ – using cutting edge technology to develop breakthrough programs in genetic health screening and DNA testing.

For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About Rubicon
Rubicon Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: RBT) is a digital marketplace for waste and recycling, and provider of innovative software-based products for businesses and governments worldwide. Striving to create a new industry standard by using technology to drive environmental innovation, the company helps turn businesses into more sustainable enterprises, and neighborhoods into greener and smarter places to live and work. Rubicon’s mission is to end waste. It helps its partners find economic value in their waste streams and confidently execute on their sustainability goals. To learn more, visit www.Rubicon.com.

Rubicon Media Contact:
Dan Sampson
[email protected]
[email protected]

Mars Media Contact:
Caitlin Kemper
[email protected]

¹The national online survey was conducted by 210 Analytics on behalf of the National Confectioners Association. The research was fielded January 17-31, 2022, among a sample of 1,573 U.S. adults (between the ages of 18 and 75). The margin of error associated with the survey is +/- 2.5% at the 95% confidence level.