Concern over child labour and wasteful packaging

It's Easter, it's a bank holiday weekend - and best of all, it's predicted to be sunny. But celebrating Easter has a huge ethical cost, experts claim. Our insatiable demand for chocolate (we are expected to consume 80 million Easter eggs) raises serious concerns over waste levels, fairtrade and sustainability. Then there's the hundreds of thousands of Scots whose flights abroad are pumping pollution in every direction. Even the Easter dinner is under fire as the food miles clock up.

Supermarkets are clambering over one another to show their green credentials, yet their Easter offerings fall short. A Sunday Herald survey found that Tesco and Sainsbury's have just one own-brand Fairtrade chocolate egg each, while Morrisons has none. Marks & Spencer has been quicker off the mark with a full range of organic children's lines, some 30 different products).

Asda says it has upped its organic and fairtrade range by 10% this year, and Morrisons responded to customer demand by introducing a range of four eggs from organic chocolate leaders Green & Black's, resulting in a 276% increase in its organic sales.

Premium chocolate makers Green & Black's have seen sales double this year, their customers viewing organic as a short-cut to quality. Senior brand manager Gemma Wookey said: "We have focussed on sustainability from the beginning and worked well with the producers. There has been a worldwide demand for our chocolate because we have always had a sustainable focus, supporting our producing farms."

Wookey is that adamant customers respond to their ethical approach and have not been put off since they joined forces with giants Cadbury Schweppes. "Green & Black's has remained as it was," added Wookey. "We are an independent business and how we make the chocolate has always stayed the same."

Although Green & Black's is leading the market, their Ethiscore rating is a mere nine points out of 15. Ethiscore is the online shopper's guide set up by Ethical Consumer magazine, judging companies on 23 categories including environmental impact, treatment of workers and sustainability.

According to the magazine's Ruth Rosselson, Green & Black's ethical rating dropped by several points after the takeover. She said: "Once Cadbury took over, Green & Black's inherited the bad records that come with it. The other issue is that, while its chocolate is organic, it is not all certified fairtrade.

"It is a better choice than any ordinary Cadbury's egg, and we would certainly encourage people to buy it over Nestle and Cadbury's own brand."

Cadbury scores a seven, while Nestle achieves a zero thanks to a series of boycotts and disputes. Rosselson believes consumers have it in their power to hit the manufacturers where it hurts as it becomes easier to be an ethical consumer at any time of the year.

She added: "We can send a message by avoiding the most unethically packaged eggs. Choose ethically where you can, and if you want more chocolate, buy some good bars without all the excess packaging."

With Oxfam shops across the UK almost selling out their entire fairtrade Easter chocolate range, it appears her message is getting across. Wasteful packaging does, however, remain a serious concern, provoking green groups to urge customers and retailers to take action. Sainsbury's has pledged to make 100% of its Easter egg packaging recyclable by next Easter, and has introduced the world's first compostable packaged egg.

Though these steps are welcomed, Friends of the Earth (FoE) Scotland argue the current eggs not only damage the planet but are far from value for money. They say 4370 tonnes of cardboard and 160 tonnes of foil will be wasted this year because of our chocolate-giving craze.

FoE Scotland research chief Stuart Hay wants Scots to choose alternative Easter gifts. He said: "There are loads of ways to enjoy Easter without adding to the Scotland's growing waste packaging mountain. Chocolate eggs may be fragile, but many consumers will question whether it is reasonable to be charged more than half the cost of the egg itself for excessive packaging that will be thrown away."

Another worry is the use of child labour in cocoa farming. Though the introduction of fairtrade certification has improved matters, a report released last week by the International Labour Organisation found 12,000 children were slave labour on cocoa farms in West Africa, mostly trafficked from Mali and Burkina Faso to the Ivory Coast, the world's leading cocoa producer. The increase in demand for chocolate has meant the need for more labour and a more sustainable approach.

In 2005, Cadbury Schweppes teamed up with Earthwatch Institute and the Ghana Nature Conservation Research Centre (NCRC) to improve cocoa levels, biodiversity and working practices in the eastern region of Ghana.

Earthwatch programme manager Jen Alger said: "The way farming is going is unsustainable because cocoa should be grown in the traditional way, with lots of shade. This way a tree can produce cocoa for up to 100 years.

"In Ghana the trees have a lifespan of about 30 years as they are clear-cutting everything, leaving the trees in isolation. In the full sun, trees are stressed and more susceptible to pests and disease."

Small children aside, most of us eat more than chocolate at Easter, and the traditional Easter lunch could do more harm to the environment unless chosen wisely.

Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, said even policy-makers ignore the fact that 20% of our carbon footprint relates to the production and distribution of food.

"Individual citizens can contribute to reducing emissions by using their purchasing power wisely," he said. "Buying organic reduces emissions, and people should buy local food to reduce food miles. It might be a little bit more in the purchase, but it's kinder on the planet and better for us."

But Professor David Hughes, an expert in food marketing at Imperial College London, warns that few food manufacturers are "intrinsically ethical", responding only when forced to.

He said: "The major fast-moving-consumer-goods companies are not leaders in responding to the great social issues, like obesity and global warming. They wait until public pressure is sufficiently aggressive, then change slowly. It is the quirky, smaller-scale companies that lead on these issues."