McDonald's: The Big Eco-Sinner
The most well known fast-food restaurant in the world, McDonald’s, vowed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 36% in 2018 and to source all packaging from renewable or recycled sources by 2025. It’s now three years after their first pledge to reduce their plastic usage and they have made several changes to their restaurants worldwide. The real question is, are they doing enough to make a difference to the planet? Or are people just getting annoyed because the straw is going soggy in their milkshake…
The first big change at McDonald’s was the plastic straws. In 2018, the company decided to remove these from their restaurants. This brought complaints from both sides of the plastic debate. The first round of paper straws were not wide enough for many of the different drinks that McDonald’s sold. This caused customers nationwide to complain about the change and saw many customers asking for multiple straws just to get through one iced coffee. However, when paper straws were introduced, it was because they would be better for the planet and our environment. Everyone felt extremely let down by the fact that for the first year, the paper straws were not even recyclable. McDonald’s had made it worse.
This is a recurring problem with much of what is marketed as “reduced plastic” ignores the fact other components are still made with plastic. The McFlurry’s cup was redesigned so that the plastic lid was no longer required but there has been zero effort made to change the spoon that comes with your dessert to a more sustainable alternative.
All that effort that went into changing the straws to paper, when the lids of the cups are still plastic. McDonald’s have proved that they have the capabilities of producing paper lids, as in France, they introduced the new lids at the same time as the straws. So, why in France and not the rest of the world?
Then there are the Happy Meals. In late 2019, McDonald’s announced that they would be making soft happy meal toys and books to reduce the amount of plastic they used. However, until August 2021, the packaging that the books came in was plastic. McDonald’s keep making “news worthy” changes but, in the background, the same, if not more, plastic is being used.
Ok, maybe they are really trying to reduce plastic and emissions in their branches, not only in the UK but worldwide. But, they have a long way to go until they reach their goal of plastic free by 2025, judging by how far it has taken to get to this point. They need to make more effort to change what is happening behind the scenes and not just what is publicised. If McDonald’s makes big changes, other restaurants will follow suit and then eventually, we can stop using plastic in everyday life.