Did you know that around 2.8 million packaging per minute is used in the world? It means that over 4 billion packages are used every day. And most of them, not to say all, end up in the trash after a while.

How are the packaging in McDonald’s managed?
In the fast food chain, waste is based on the concept of single use. This means that every packaging, every packaging, is used once and then thrown away.
This translates into an immense amount of waste (in 2016 there are over 550 McDonald’s restaurants in Italy). In France, second world market after the USA, McDonald’s waste increased by 20% between 2013 and 2015. This is the figure that emerges from the study of the NGO “Zero Waste France”, which reveals how the rate Waste recycling decreased (in the same period) from 26.5% up to 25% in France, but is more than 90% in Germany, Holland and the Netherlands. The green turning point in packaging at McDonald’s.

The largest fast food chain in the world has set itself two goals to be achieved by 2025:

• get 100% of packaging from renewable, recycled or green certified sources
• make all the restaurants in the chain able to recycle the packaging

Today, only 50% of McDonald’s packaging comes from renewable, recycled or certified sources. 64% of paper packaging comes from recycled or certified sources.
"We are the largest restaurant chain in the world and for this reason we have a responsibility to set a good example by making changes that have a significant global impact Our consumers tell us that packaging waste is the first sustainability issue that they would like see us face "says Francesca DeBiase, McDonald’s Chief Supply Chain and Sustainability Officer. McDonald’s, thanks to collaborations with local institutions, industry experts and various environmental associations, will
create “smarter packaging, implement new recycling and measurement programs, while promoting environmental awareness among customers and employees”. But McDonald’s started long ago to make its packaging green.

About 25 years ago, the fast food giant signed a partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a non-profit organization that helps companies overcome the most pressing environmental challenges. The agreement allowed McDonald’s to eliminate more than 136 million kg of packaging and to recycle 1 million tons of corrugated cardboard, reducing all waste by 30% in 10 years. McDonald’s has taken up the challenge of green packaging.

Is your company ready to do the same?