McDonald’s has pledged to make its packaging and restaurants more Earth-friendly.
By 2025, the fast food chain plans to use renewable, recyclable or certified materials in all of its packaging, and it will put recycling bins in its restaurants.
“Our customers have told us that packaging waste is the top environmental issue they would like us to address,” said Francesca DeBiase, McDonald’s sustainability officer, in a statement. “Our ambition is to make changes our customers want and to use less packaging, sourced responsibly and designed to be taken care of after use.”
Today, about half of McDonald’s packaging comes from renewable, recycled or certified materials. Only 10% of stores currently offer recycling bins for customer use.
McDonald’s (MCD) had previously promised to stop using packaging that contributes to deforestation. Currently around 64% of the its packaging meets that standard, and it plans to reach 100% by 2020.
The company has worked toward several other environmental goals in the past few years. McDonald’s began purchasing sustainable beef in 2016, and it plans to completely eliminate foam packaging by the end of this year.
by Ben Geier
