You can have your chocs and eat them... as well as keeping packaging to a minimum this Christmas.

SELECTION boxes are an important part of Christmas, but often when the big, brightlycoloured boxes are ripped apart there’s very little inside. Disappointing… and very wasteful too. Now Nell McAndrew is fronting a recycling scheme by Nestlé, who have slashed the size of the packaging on selection boxes in a bid to save 140 tonnes of rubbish going to landfill this festive season.

Andy McQuade, Nestlé’s seasonal brand manager says: “While the number and size of chocolate bars in selection boxes remains the same as in 2007, the packaging is 40 per cent smaller and 25 per cent lighter than last year.”

Nestlé has made its selection boxes from 75 per cent recycled board and the plastic trays within the pack are made from recycled bottles. Families will be encouraged to recycle the packs through an on-pack message.

Although she’s fronting the campaign, sweets seem far removed from fitness-mad Nell, who doesn’t drink or smoke, eats a healthy diet and runs five miles a day. But the reason soon becomes clear. ‘‘I love chocolate. You can eat a well-balanced diet and still have your treats,’’ she explains. ‘‘What’s more, everybody buys selection boxes, they’re part of Christmas.

But this year I’m trying to make more effort to recycle. I want to get used to it so it becomes a habit.”

■ Visit recyclenow.com for details on local recycling facilities.

Elf and safety?

GIVE your loved ones a present to remember and send them 40ft up into the treetops at Go Ape High Wire Forest Adventure at Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire. Visitors get to climb rope ladders high above the forest floor to trek the trees through various challenging obstacles such as Tarzan swings, rope bridges and zip slides.

Suitable for over 10s.

Go Ape gift vouchers are valid for a year and cost £20 for Baboons (ten to 17-year-olds) and £25 for Gorillas (18- plus). Available online at goape.co.uk or call 0845-643-2034.

Veal appeal

THIRSK-based sausage makers Debbie and Andrew Keeble have introduced a veal sausage to their range as part of the couple’s campaign to get veal back on British menus.

The debbie & andrew’s sausages are a mix of equal veal, chicken and lean pork shoulder (all naturally lower in fat) plus shallots, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg in natural casings.

The couple say they are fully behind celebrity Janet Street-Porter’s efforts to get the meat back onto British menus. “We are prepared to eat lamb but shun veal, which seems absurd because it’s a good, low-fat meat,” says Debbie. “The more veal we eat, the more incentive there will be for farmers here to rear their own animals, which could stop thousands of unwanted calves being killed at birth.” debbieandandrews.co.uk