By 2025, fast food giant McDonald's has pledged to source all its guest packaging from renewable, recycled or certified sources and implement recycling at all its restaurants worldwide. To achieve this, the world's largest restaurant company said it will work with industry experts, local governments and environmental associations to improve packaging and recycling practices. If not made from renewable or recycled materials, packaging will be certified by eco-groups like the Forest Stewardship Council, which works to ensure that products come from responsibly managed forests.
Currently, half of McDonald's consumer packaging comes from renewable, recycled or certified sources. Globally, only 10 percent of restaurants around the world recycle customer packaging, the company says. The initiative has the backing of the World Wildlife Fund, which released a statement applauding the commitment: "Smarter waste management begins with improved sourcing, increased value chain collaboration and better communication with customers," said spokesperson Sheila Bonini in a statement. "Today's announcement demonstrates McDonald's strong leadership in developing packaging and recycling solutions at a scale that can extend the life of our natural resources and push its industry toward more sustainable practices."
The company has come a long way from its days packaging burgers in Styrofoam boxes. In the last 25 years, McDonald's claims to have eliminated more than 300 million pounds of packaging and recycled 1 million tons of corrugated boxes, through a partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund. In the last decade, the company says they've reduced waste by 30 percent.
The new pledge expands on an existing goal of sourcing 100 percent of fiber-based packaging from recycled or certified sources where no deforestation occurs, by 2020.
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