McDonald’s plastic toy takeaway
Eco drive for Happy Meal gifts
McDONALD’S has vowed to slash the amount of new plastic in the billion-plus toys it gives out a year.
Plastic figurines will be swapped for ones made of cardboard pieces that kids can slot together themselves.
More will also be made from recycled or plant-based plastics, the takeaway giant said.
The firm aims to cut its use of virgin fossil fuel-based plastic for Happy Meals by 90 per cent by 2025, compared with 2018.
It follows Burger King’s 2019 decision to stop giving out free plastic toys.
The firm’s customers can now return existing ones to be melted down and recycled.
Burger King’s move came after Ella and Caitlin Wood, then aged nine and seven, led a petition to ban plastic toys being given away with children’s meals.
The Southampton sisters had learned at school how rubbish endangers marine creatures.
Amy Murray, McDonald’s vicepresident of global marketing, said: “As you can imagine, our entire supply chain has to change with this. It has been a massive undertaking.”
McDonald’s chief sustainability officer Jenny McColloch said the firm is making sure the toys it gives away are sturdy enough for children to play with, but also safe.
The fast-food giant is also looking for ways to recycle old plastic Happy Meal toys in its restaurants.
In the UK and Japan, a scheme is already under way to reuse the plastic for playgrounds and restaurant trays.
BBC documentary War on Plastic revealed in 2019 that many of the millions of toys adding to our mountain of plastic waste yearly are unopened fast-food freebies.