McDonald’s pledge to cut plastic waste transformed in the offering the paper straws with drinks. Thanks to that approach, the international giant supports the campaign to consign wasteful plastic straws.
McDonald’s, the biggest fast-food company in the UK, started to offer its visitors the paper straws with the soft drinks. The chain of about 1,300 restaurants hands out more plastic straws than any other business in the country. McDonald’s promised to start trialling a scheme, in which straws are kept behind the counter and only given out on request.
“Customers have told us that they don’t want to be given a straw and that they want to have to ask for one, so we’re acting on that,”
explained McDonald’s UK chief executive, Paul Pomroy.
Thus, McDonald’s supported the Standard’s Last Straw campaign, which has resulted in dozens of HoReCa companies replacing plastic straws with biodegradable alternatives. The statistical data shows that the Britons use about eight billion plastic straws every year, with up to a quarter of them used in London.
“The other thing we’re looking to do is to move to recycled paper on the straws and biodegradable paper straws and that test, I’m really proud to say, will start next month,”
Mr Pomroy added.
The next step for McDonald’s will be the lids that go on cups, within the next year they will be recyclable and made of paper, not plastic. McDonald’s also wants 100% of its restaurants to recycle packaging by then, compared with only 10% now. The giant restaurant chain, which has 37,000 sites worldwide, said some restaurants might struggle to recycle packaging by 2025.
