Not loving fast food waste . . . until 2025
It could take until 2025 for some of the country’s fast food giants to sort out their waste.
McDonald’s spokesman Simon Kenny said while all its restaurants had only a single bin for all rubbish, with no recycling bins, some stores were running a ‘‘cup recycling trial’’. The restaurants also did ‘‘back of house’’ recycling with items such as cardboard boxes and milk bottles.
That could change in five years though as McDonald’s moves to alter its approach. The company, which has 167 Kiwi restaurants, aims to have recycling in stores and make 100 per cent of its packaging from renewable, recycled, or certified sources by 2025.
McDonald’s customer Warwick Marshall said that was not fast enough, and he wanted to see action now.
‘‘The waste is just phenomenal. If you go in to McDonald’s and sit there for a while, the waste is just huge,’’ said Marshall, who lives in Wellington.
‘‘Five years away is a long time ... in five years, I wonder how many plastic lids, and cardboard cups and straws are going in to the landfills?’’
McDonald’s was not alone in its approach to dealing with waste. At the KFC on Cambridge Terrace in Wellington there is no recycling – all waste went in the same bin.
Restaurant Brands, which owns the franchising rights for KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Jr and Taco Bell brands in New Zealand, was approached by Stuff but was unable to provide comment.
KFC previously announced a commitment to replacing plasticbased packaging with reusable or recoverable options by 2025.
Keep New Zealand Beautiful’s 2019 waste audit named McDonald’s as the county’s most-littered takeout – 63 per cent of all branded takeaway food, drink containers and packaging found around New Zealand was from McDonald’s.
The audit said the total takeout containers littered around the country would fill 25 rugby fields.
Other brands that featured a lot in litter were KFC at 13 per cent, Burger King at 10.6 per cent, Subway at 4.1 per cent, and Wendy’s at 2.4 per cent.
AUT professor Thomas Neitzer said McDonald’s and Restaurant Brands had the money, market power and staff resources to introduce recycling or package composting.
The world was changing, and it was no longer acceptable to provide a rubbish bin with no recycling bin nearby too, he said.
McDonald’s could have reusable plates, cutlery, and a dishwasher like any other restaurant, he said.
‘‘They don’t have to contribute to these one-use plastics that have a lifetime of one meal.’’
Kenny said, on average, 60-70 per cent of customers used drive through, so most food was taken away.
But for those eating in, options to reduce waste are also slim – Marshall said he asked for a ceramic coffee cup but the store didn’t have any.
Kenny said some smaller restaurants had a ‘‘McCafe hub’’ – a cut-down version of McCafe without crockery. Customers could bring their own reusable cups there, he said.
Packaging New Zealand executive director Sharon Humphreys said McDonald’s, a Packaging New Zealand member, was doing all it could towards sustainability, but also had to follow health and regulations.
‘‘They’re absolutely committed to doing what they can.’’
Every consumer had a collective role to play in reducing their consumption, she said.