The eco-friendly move will see all crackers made using recyclable material, as well the gifts inside made from sustainable sources such as metal, wood and paper.
And, with its customers engaging in almost 1.4m crackers this year, the change aims to make a substantial difference to its reduction of single-use plastic.
Greene King chief commercial officer Phil Thomas said: “Christmas is a busy time for our pubs and, last year, we sold 154,000 meals on Christmas Day alone, so we wanted to find a more sustainable way for our customers to enjoy the traditional Christmas cracker.
“We are really passionate about reducing our waste and, as we continue to strive to reduce single-use plastics in our business, we’re pleased to have been able to produce a greener solution to the traditional Christmas cracker.”
Pledges made
Thomas continued: “While the gifts are now made in a more sustainable way, which is something to celebrate, we can’t guarantee the cheesy jokes inside will put a smile on your face.”
On top of the move towards a greener pub future, the brewer and pubco introduced its first compostable straw in 2018 with a reduction of 30m plastic straws used a year.
It has signed up to two national pledges aiming to cut food waste – WRAP’s Food Waste Reduction Roadmap and the Government’s Step up to the plate scheme.
Earlier this year, Greene King partnered with Too Good To Go to enable customers to buy takeaway meals towards the end of the day from its pubs, carveries and Farmhouse Inns pubs in a bid to reduce food waste.