Questions answered

There are 10 questions about “Environment” in the “How do you operate?” topic.

Click on a question to read our answer.

1. What kind of environment protocol do you follow?
Thanks for your question. We have an Environment policy setting out our strategy to protect the environment at a local and global level, and to not have a negative impact on the lives of future generations. The policy covers all aspects of our business from purchasing, office functions to restaurant building and operations. It is centred around the hierarchy of reduce, reuse and recycle, and we are committed to continuous review, evaluation and improvements of our programme. (May 2011)

Email this to a friend

Bookmark with:

What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon

2. What % of your delivery fleet is powered by your cookong oil bio deisel?
Thank you for your question. McDonald’s UK re-uses all of its cooking oil as bio fuel, but unfortunately this doesn't create enough biodiesel to run the whole fleet. Currently 56% of the fleet is running on bio-diesel. (February 2011)

Email this to a friend

Bookmark with:

What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon

3. Does McDonalds have a harrassement & bullying policy in it's restaurants?
Thanks for your question. Please talk to your Business Manager in the first instance to alert them of any problems. Or call the HR helpline on 0844 736 3610. (February 2011)

Email this to a friend

Bookmark with:

What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon

4. With all the disposables used at McD's, why dont you have bins so people can place food in one, and recyclable waste in others. Your company must use tons of it.
Thanks for your question. McDonald’s takes its environmental responsibility very seriously and recycles approximately a quarter of all waste produced at most restaurants through the separation of cardboard and used cooking oil. McDonald's is committed to running its UK fleet on bio-diesel, made from recycled cooking oil from restaurants. The carbon saving of the move is approximately 1,675 tonnes annually - the equivalent of removing 2,424 family cars from the road each year. The challenge which McDonald’s face, is that much of the waste produced in the restaurants, is ‘food-contaminated’, providing difficulties in discovering an appropriate method in terms of recycling - both through finding the infrastructure to support this, and a solution that provides the best fit for the customer. We are committed to finding solutions to reach our target of sending zero waste to landfill. To do this we are looking to start trialling food separation in a small number of restaurants in order to find the best method of doing this. Whilst we are looking at this, we are also diverting waste from landfill by sending it to energy waste facilities that generates energy to be used for heating and powering local buildings. This project began with 11 restaurants, and was so successful for food-contaminated waste that McDonald’s have expanded this project to other parts of the country where the facilities exist. We currently have 145 restaurants on the programme. Once we have found a successful solution to food waste separation, we will have much more scope to be able to recycle all other possible materials, while continuing to send the small amount of residue to energy from waste, therefore avoiding landfill but also recycling as much material as possible. Thanks for your interest, we hope you find this answers your question, please be in touch again if you would like to find out more. (January 2011)

Email this to a friend

Bookmark with:

What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon

5. i am trying to find out information about mcdonalds and the envrionment as i know that once a year they switch off their lights and try to encopurage the community to join them i need to know what it is called and how long they do this for
Thanks for your question. The event you are referring to is called Earth Hour, and is a world wide initiative run by the World Wildlife Fund. For the last few years McDonald's has participated in this where possible - switching off signage and car park lights for one hour at the allocated time. This year Earth Hour is on March 26th, at 8.30pm. It is difficult for McDonald’s to take part as switching lights off while the restaurants are open is a challenge from a Health and Safety perspective. However, we will support the initiative by turning the lights off at Piccadilly, and encouraging our staff to do the same at home. We are also introducing many more activities to reduce our energy consumption this year, and will be communicating with all our employees about making behaviour changes in order to make a positive Environmental impact. For more information about McDonald’s environmental policies and practices please visit http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ourworld/environment/policy.shtml (January 2011)

Email this to a friend

Bookmark with:

What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon

6. The global food crisis is a very real danger, and fact is, McDonalds are contributing to this vastly due to the amounts of meat they serve (you can feed a lot less by killing an animal than you can by keeping it alive). Will McDonalds admit that it cares much more about money and profits than humanitarian issues?
McDonald’s is in the business of making and serving food, primarily non-vegetarian food and as such the death of cattle and chickens is an unavoidable part of this. Additionally McDonald’s cannot deny that much like other companies, one of its objectivities is to be a profitable business and to share these profits with its shareholders. However, making a profit is not the company’s only objective and McDonald’s is fully aware of the social and environmental responsibilities that come with the territory of being a global business. Both locally and internationally, the company has numerous policies and procedures in place to ensure everything from the environment, to the communities the company operates in, are dealt with in a positive manner. For example, McDonald’s always sources the ingredients used in its food locally where possible, so as to support home-grown businesses. This can be demonstrated in the UK, where approximately 70 percent of the company’s food is obtained within the Britain and Ireland. McDonald’s is also committed to recycling, and to that end has reduced its dependency on fossil fuels and is converting its delivery fleet to run on 100 percent bio diesel that's made from recycling its used cooking oil. Additionally all bags, tray liners and cup carriers are made from 100 percent recycled paper, and packaging for burgers, French Fries, Chicken McNuggets and Apple Pies is made from 72 percent recycled paper. Globally, the company works with its suppliers to a policy of not taking cattle from recently deforested areas, so as to help protect the Amazon Rainforest. McDonald’s also does not trade in soya from deforested areas. Additionally, McDonald’s is part of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform, which was created by the food industry to improve conditions for local communities. As a result of this initiative, McDonald’s now use Full Bean Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee, chosen because of its holistic approach to supply chain sustainability. This means that McDonald’s customers get competitively priced high quality Arabica coffee that has been produced under sustainable conditions according to standards that benefit coffee farmers and the environment. Suffice to say, there is a lot going on and the company remains committed to finding the best possible solutions that complement the companies positive principles. (August 2009)

Email this to a friend

Bookmark with:

What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon

7. Hi I'd like to know if you employ people with past criminal records? This is because many people have committed offences in the past but then they are trying to move forward and start a new life for example a crime somebody commited at the age of 18 would still afect their application at the age of 25. Would McDonalds give them a job or refuse the application as soon as they see the criminal offence box ticked?
Thank you for your question. McDonald's UK employs suitable people. These people may have had a previous conviction for a criminal offence. McDonald's is an employer with a strong equal opportunity background and is currently working with Jobcentre Plus to get the long-term unemployed back into the workplace. (July 2009)

Email this to a friend

Bookmark with:

What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon

8. I wish to re submit the question regarding the worthless by-product that your company produces in vast quantities and gives out to irresponsible people by the lorry load daily. Ending up spoiling are countryside, it’s a mess.
McDonald’s believes that to effectively address littering the following three elements are needed: 1) Regulation and Enforcement - people need to understand that littering is not acceptable behaviour, 2) Infrastructure Provision and Service - people can dispose of their rubbish responsibly with ease, 3) Education and Information - people understand the importance of protecting our local environments and the impact of littering. The responsibility for each element should be shared between central government, enforcement agencies, local authorities, retailers, manufacturers, landowners and the general public. McDonald’s will continue to work with all relevant organisations to address the litter issue in the UK, and will support national campaigns on this issue. If there are specific local areas in your countryside areas which you have noticed has a litter problem please advise as we will contact the local restaurants in the area to organise a clean up event with the local school, community and local authority. (March 2009)

Email this to a friend

Bookmark with:

What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon

9. I've worked at McDonalds for 3 years, fortunately I am soon leaving. One thing that I have always wanted to know is: should the store be closed if the heating breaks down and the temperature in store drops below the required temperature? I ask this as the temperature in my store once dropped 7° below the minimum temperature, because the heating had broken down, employees and customers were complaining but we stayed open. Also what happens if the store is too hot due to failed air conditioning?
Thank you for your question. McDonald’s is sorry to hear that you are leaving. In the case of a restaurant’s air conditioning system not working correctly, temporary measures should be taken - such as the use of portable heater/air conditioning units, which can be arranged by the Health & Safety department.

Email this to a friend

Bookmark with:

What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon

10. Is it true McDonalds is using soy and alfalfa farmed in and near the Amazon from farms that raze acres of rainforest in order to feed the animals which eventually become its burgers and nuggets?
You may be aware that Greenpeace previously raised concerns that some soya meal (being used by a broad range of food businesses) was being sourced from areas that have been illegally cleared in the Brazilian rainforest. As a company McDonald's takes steps to make sure that it does not source from recently deforested areas. After discussions with McDonald's, Greenpeace and other NGOs, the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries and the National Association of Grain Exporters and their members agreed not to trade soya from deforested areas within the Amazon as of October 2006, signing a moratorium. The first year of this two-year moratorium has shown good and positive progress, and McDonalds is committed to making sure that this continues. Should some of the measures take longer than the stated two years to implement, McDonalds expects the moratorium to remain in place until they are fully realised. See the following website for further details: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/soy-moratorium-reaches-one-yea. (July 2008)

Email this to a friend

Bookmark with:

What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit StumbleUpon