Easter egg manufacturers have been shamed over packaging as research reveals up to a third of their weight is cardboard and plastic.

A study by consumer watchdog Which? compared the packaging to chocolate ratio of the top 10 best-selling branded Easter eggs, and found Thornton’s Classic Large Egg was the worst.

In total the egg weighs 418g but its packaging makes up more than 152g (36 per cent) of this weight.

The second worst egg for excessive packaging was Lindt's Lindor Milk Chocolate Egg, which had a packaging weight percentage of 28.1 per cent.

The egg with the least packaging of the ten investigated was the Cadbury Twirl Large Easter Egg. Its packaging made up just 18.8 per cent of the total weight.

It’s also packaged almost entirely in cardboard meaning that most of it can be recycled. Only the two chocolate bar wrappers, which weigh less than a gram together, cannot be recycled.