Questions answered
There are 27 questions about “Environment” in the “What are you doing about...” topic.
Click on a question to read our answer.
- 1. I was wondering how much do you save annually on fuel since using biodiesel?!
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Thanks for your question. Since 2007 we have used 8,223,344 litres of biodiesel, therefore making equivalent savings in standard diesel. (June 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 2. What have Mcdonalds done to make this a better world?
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Thanks for your question. We have an Environment policy setting out our strategy to protect the environment at a local and global level, and not to have a negative impact on the lives of future generations.
The policy covers all aspects of our business from purchasing, office functions, 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.
If by 'a better world' you are referring to protecting our planet for future generations, we have many environmental initiatives in place designed to reduce energy, water, waste and litter. We also have sustainable sourcing policies in place.
In terms of energy, we have invested heavily in energy saving equipment, combined with employee training in order to reduce our electricity consumption and therefore CO2 emissions, for example more efficient HVAC systems, low energy light bulbs and sensors on lighting systems.
With water, we have installed waterless urinals in the majority of our restaurants, and have introduced new cleaning systems that require less water use.
Waste, we are aiming for zero waste to landfill, through a combined strategy of minimising waste, reusing where possible, recycling what we can, and then sending the residual to Energy from Waste facilities. As part of this strategy, all of our used cooking oil is collected, processed into bio diesel and used to power our distribution fleet.
With litter, since 1982, we have committed to daily litter patrols, and our restaurant teams complete a minimum of three per day in their local area. We also work with Keep Britain Tidy, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Tidy Wales, and Tidy Northern Ireland on their respective anti-littering campaigns.
Sustainable sourcing covers a wide range of areas, but a few highlights are:
In the UK, all of our beef, pork, eggs, milk, potatoes and salad ingredients (when in season) are sourced from the UK and Ireland.
All the milk used in our tea and coffee is organic.
All of our tea and coffee is rainforest alliance certified.
All the eggs we use in all of our ingredients, and products are free range, and sourced from UK farmers - many of them small, independent businesses. (May 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 3. Is data on McDonalds Carbon emissions publicly available yet? In December 2009 you stated that a knew system for calculating McDonald's carbon footprint had just been completed. Has this been implemented yet and if so what are the findings?
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Thanks for your question. The carbon footprint tool has been implemented throughout Europe. McDonald's has set internal targets for carbon; these have not yet been published but are in line with or stricter than the EU/UK carbon reduction targets. (April 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 4. I've witnessed an increase in the efforts the company makes to minimise the effects we have on our environment, like Keep Britain Tidy and the Planet People program. However, in the grand scheme of things, and compared to other businesses, I think it really is quite minimal. My main gripe is plastic. My store must used up to 40 bottles of milk a day, none of which are recycled. Is there no way we can recycle these?
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Thank you for taking an interest in our environmental strategy, and for recognising the work that we are currently doing in order to improve our environmental performance in the areas of litter and employee engagement.
We have been investing heavily in energy efficient equipment, as our energy consumption comprises about 80% of our carbon footprint.
Our waste strategy is to get zero waste to landfill, and recycling is an aspect of this strategy that we are trying to develop. Plastic recycling is a challenge, partly due to trying to find a waste partner to meet our needs, and partly as our plastics are all food contaminated, and therefore not attractive to many waste management companies. We have been running a plastics recycling trial, but we are also looking at food separation, and will be trialling this shortly.
Currently, we recycle all of our cardboard, which makes up about 30% of our total waste and all our old cooking oil, which is about 10% of our total waste. In some areas we send the rest to Energy from Waste plants instead of it going to landfill. (March 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 5. Do McDonalds make carbon emissions data publically available?
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Thanks for your question. At the moment this information is not publicly available. However McDonald's does use a carbon footprint monitoring tool across Europe and has set reduction targets that are in line with or stricter than those currently in place for the EU and the UK. (March 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 6. Hi there, My children have accumulated a large bag of happy Meal toys that they have finally grown out of. I do no want to send them to landfill (I work for a conservation charity so it is really out of the question) so I was wondering if you knew of any ways I could recyle them? I have checked on Ebay and theer does not appear to be a 'market' for most of the ones we have but I am sure there must be places that could use them? Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated Thank in advance
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Thanks for getting in touch and for not sending your toys to landfill. We are developing a strategy to reach zero waste to landfill, and are exploring various ways of achieving this.
You are more than welcome to donate the toys to a suitable children's charity, if there is one locally, or to recycle them.
The ‘crossed out’ wheeled bin symbol on either the Happy Meal toy or the toy packaging indicates that this is an electronic toy and means that this toy can be recycled rather than disposed of as waste. From 1 July 2007, all members of the public have had the opportunity to deposit their old electrical items for recycling, either at designated collection facilities (DCF) or at retailers who have opted to provide a free in-store take-back facility
At this stage we are investigating ways of providing the take back facility, but in the meantime, McDonald’s have contributed towards a national fund to assist local councils to further develop their existing waste electronics’ collection facilities.
If you refer to our partner website www.recycle-more.co.uk, you will be able to locate your local electronic designated collection facility. (March 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 7. dear sir/madam i am wanting to know if your used vegetable oil is collected by someone. i am currently developing and processing bio oil within the oil fired heating sector and i am trying to source raw product. i am a heating engineer in the co antrim area northern ireland. thankyou for your time
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Thanks for your question. You may be interested to hear that McDonald’s UK re-uses all of its cooking oil as bio fuel; currently 56% of the fleet is running on bio-diesel. Our old oil is collected by our delivery trucks (which saves additional journeys for collection). It is then taken to processing plants, where it is converted into biodiesel and used to power our delivery fleet. (March 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 8. Is the Big Tasty box biodegradable? Doesn't look it.. Nor does it say it on the box.
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Thanks for your question.
The Big Tasty box is 100% recyclable, and it is also biodegradable, but we are awaiting official accreditation in order to be able to print this on the packaging.
Currently 89.5% of the UK primary packaging is made from renewable resources. All of our carry out bags, napkins and cup carriers are made from 100% recycled paper. The majority of the boxes used to package our hot food such as Big Macs, Filet-o-Fish, Chicken McNuggets®, Apple Pies, French Fries, and Happy Meal boxes, including the Big Tasty box, are made from 72% recycled fibres.
In April 2008 we removed the last of our foam polystyrene packaging and replaced it with a papercard alternative. Foam polystyrene is difficult to recycle and not biodegradable.
(February 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 9. Is the waste (in rubbish internal/external) bins sorted into recyclable/non-recyclable or does all waste go into landfill? If recycled, do you have an approximate figure? Thanks
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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 entire UK fleet on 100 per cent bio-diesel, made from recycled cooking oil from restaurants, combined with a limited amount of rapeseed oil. We are also trialling plastics recycling at 30 restaurants. The problem, which McDonald’s face is that much of the waste produce in the restaurants, is ‘food-contaminated’, providing a challenge in discovering an appropriate method in terms of recycling. Our long term aim is to reach zero waste to landfill, and in order to do that we are looking at a number of solutions. One immediate answer is to send waste to an energy from waste facility that generates energy to be used for heating and powering local buildings. This project started with 11 restaurants in Sheffield, but has proved so successful for food-contaminated waste that it has been expanded to other parts of the country where the facilities exist. It is now in place for 145 restaurants, and being expanded wherever possible. In the meantime we are also looking to start trialling food separated waste, which will allow us to recycle the remainder of our waste. All of these projects are designed to divert waste away from landfill.
Thanks for your interest, please get back in touch if you need any further information.
(January 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 10. I am currently studying a business management degree . I am looking at a topic that looks into drives into environmental change with regards to packaging. If it is at all possible, could you tell me who supplies you with your packaging, and what is mcdonalds doing to decrease its environmental impact with the packaging it uses. I would be very grateful if you were able to discuss this further with me, and I look forward to your responses. Kindest Regards
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Thank you for your question. McDonald’s takes its environmental responsibility very seriously and is continually looking for ways to increase our positive environmental impact, and reduce carbon footprint. All of our activities are centred around the key priorities of reduce, reuse, recycle and redesign, and aim to use less energy and improve our Environmental performance.
With regards packaging specifically, we are aiming to reduce the impact through changing the design and using renewable resources wherever possible. By changing the design of materials and packaging, we can stop waste from happening in the first place. Lighter, thinner packaging means fewer raw materials and less waste. For example, by reducing the size of our bun tray liners we have saved 84 tonnes of paper per year. A simple, common sense idea with a big impact.
We need to use packaging to ensure our food is fresh, hot, convenient and safe.
We also know it is our most visible means to demonstrate our commitment to the environment which is why we are working to identify ways to reduce the impact of our packaging. Currently 89.5% of the UK primary packaging is made from renewable resources. All of our carry out bags, napkins and cup carriers are made from 100% recycled paper. The majority of the boxes used to package our hot food such as Big Macs, Filet o’Fish, Chicken McNuggets®, Apple Pies, French Fries, and Happy Meal boxes are made from 72% recycled fibres.
In April 2008 we removed the last of our foam polystyrene packaging and replaced it with a papercard alternative. Foam polystyrene is difficult to recycle and not biodegradable.
We also try to reuse delivery packaging wherever possible although we have to follow food safety laws. The delivery trays and crates used for all our buns and muffins are returned to suppliers for reuse. This saves cardboard that would otherwise have to be recycled.
Recycling uses fewer resources, fewer raw materials and helps our long term strategy of sending zero waste to landfill. As part of an on-going recycling policy, all of our restaurants have a target to recycle 100% of their corrugated cardboard. We also recycle used cooking oil, which makes up about 10% of a restaurant's total waste. This is then made into biodiesel, and used to fuel the vehicles which deliver food to our restaurants. We are also currently running a trial to recycle plastics.
The problem which McDonald’s face is that much of the waste produce in the restaurants, is ‘food-contaminated’, providing a challenge to discover an appropriate method in terms of recycling. McDonald’s is running permanent pilots where restaurants send their waste to an ‘energy from waste’ facility that generates energy to be used for heating and powering local buildings.
Locally McDonald's has an extensive litter management programme that aims to control litter around the restaurants, and also to educate and inform customers and the wider community about the importance of environmental protection. McDonald's was the first restaurant to introduce 'Litter Patrols' in the UK, in which each restaurant conducts at least three daily litter patrols whereby members of staff go out and pick up not only McDonald's packaging, but also any other litter that has been carelessly discarded. Litterbins are provided outside all McDonald’s restaurants and the company is one of the biggest sponsors of council provided litterbins in the country.
We hope this helps with your project, but we also suggest you download one of McDonald’s Student Information Packs. These have been developed after receiving many questions from students wanting to know more about the company and are designed to help address the type of questions that you may ask about the company operations. To visit our 'Schools & Students' page cut and paste the link below into your browser. http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/about-us/schools-and-students/schools-and-students.shtml
Good luck with your project
(January 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 11. I am a student at Southend High for Girls and we are doing a project on how different companies are helping protect the rainforest in making their packaging sustainable, i am writing to ask if and how you make your packaging sustainable and if you are trying to protect the rainforest and how? Thankyou,
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Thank you for your question. McDonald’s takes its environmental responsibility very seriously and is continually looking for ways that we can increase our positive impact on the environment, and reduce our carbon footprint. All of our activities are centred around the key priorities of reduce, reuse, recycle and redesign, and aim to use less energy and improve our environmental performance.
With packaging specifically, we are aiming to reduce its impact through improving design and increasing the use of renewable resources.
Changing the design of materials and packaging, can stop waste from happening in the first place. Lighter, thinner packaging means fewer raw materials and less waste. For example, by reducing the size of our bun tray liners we have saved 84 tonnes of paper per year. A simple, common sense idea with a big impact.
We need to use packaging to ensure our food is fresh, hot, convenient and safe but we are working to identify ways to reduce the impact of our packaging. Currently 89.5% of the UK primary packaging is made from renewable resources. All of our carry out bags, napkins and cup carriers are made from 100% recycled paper. The majority of the boxes used to package our hot food such as Big Macs, Filet o’Fish, Chicken McNuggets®, Apple Pies, French Fries, and Happy Meal boxes are made from 72% recycled fibres.
In April 2008 we removed the last of our foam polystyrene packaging and replaced it with a papercard alternative. Foam polystyrene is difficult to recycle and not biodegradable.
We also try to reuse delivery packaging wherever possible although we do have to follow food safety laws. The delivery trays and crates used for all our buns and muffins are returned to suppliers for reuse. This saves cardboard that would otherwise have to be recycled.
Recycling uses fewer resources, fewer raw materials and prevents waste going to landfill. As part of an on-going recycling policy, all of our restaurants have a target to recycle 100% of their corrugated cardboard. We also recycle used cooking oil, which makes up about 10% of a restaurant's total waste. This is then made into biodiesel, and used to fuel the vehicles which deliver food to our restaurants. We are also currently running a trial to recycle plastics.
We work with suppliers to ensure that all our food and packaging is sourced in an ethical and sustainable way, and work with accreditation schemes including the Soil Association, Forest Sustainability Council, Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance to give consumers peace of mind that the products and services they are buying have been sourced sustainably
With regards to the rainforest in particular, as you have learnt, none of our packaging comes from deforested land, and in addition, every cup of coffee served in our restaurants is made with Rainforest Alliance certified coffee. The Rainforest Alliance certification means that our coffee is sourced only from farms that meet specific standards, including protecting the environment and the rights and welfare of workers. Farmers receive better pay and their families have access to better education and medical care.
We also moved quickly to get soya produced in the Amazon from our suppliers’ chicken feed. Working with Greenpeace we formed an alliance with other retailers, which resulted in suppliers agreeing not to buy soya from newly deforested land in the Amazon.
I hope this helps with your project, but we also suggest you download one of McDonald’s Student Information Packs. These have been developed after receiving many questions from students wanting to know more about the company and are designed to help address the type of questions that you may ask about the company operations. To visit our 'Schools & Students' page cut and paste the link below into your browser. http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/about-us/schools-and-students/schools-and-students.shtml
Good luck!
(January 2011)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 12. would you consider having recycling toy bins in your restaurants for used toys? (like plastic bag bins at the supermarket). I have seen your response sending to the website recycle uk but these are not so easily accessible.
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Thanks for your question. We are working hard to try and find solutions for the whole area of recycling, and trialling a number of options at the moment, with plastics as one of these.
The difficulty is in trying to find the infrastructure that can support our organisation in terms of the number of McDonald’s restaurants.
McDonald’s can assure you that this entire area is one that we are fully committed to finding a solution for, in order to reach a long term target of zero waste to landfill.
Thank you for your comments, these will be fed back to the relevant team. (December 2010)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 13. what impact do pressure groups Wuch as green peace and Friends of the Earth have on McDonalds as a whole?
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Thanks for your question. McDonald’s have several projects that we work on with the advice of a variety of action groups, charities and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and are always open to working together with others to continually improve and source more sustainable practices.
One example of this was working with Greenpeace to quickly get soya produced in the Amazon removed from chicken feed. With their help, McDonald’s has formed an alliance with other retailers, which resulted in suppliers signing up to a two-year moratorium on buying soya from newly deforested land in the Amazon. McDonald’s also works with many groups in the UK to ensure our farming practices are maintained at the highest standard. In 2009 McDonald’s used over 91 million free range eggs on our Breakfast menu. All McDonald’s eggs conform to the British Lion Mark Code of Practice and are from hens fed on a non-GM diet. McDonald’s were also awarded an 'RSPCA Good Business Award for Innovation' in 2009 for the second year running.
McDonald’s have also worked with the Rainforest Alliance to ensure that all our coffee farms are certified, and achieve demanding standards for social and environmental improvement, which means a better deal for farmers, their workers and the environment.
McDonald’s have been working collaboratively with Keep Britain Tidy, Keep Wales Tidy, Keep Scotland Beautiful and Tidy Northern Ireland, looking for ways to identify and implement solutions to the on-going issue of litter. These groups are all charities that work across the UK, campaigning on litter as well as many other local environmental issues.
(December 2010)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 14. What is McDonald's doing about improving its carbon footprint? Why are there no recycling facilities at any of your restaurants?
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Thank you for your question. McDonald's takes environmental responsibilities very seriously. A major part of this is reducing the carbon footprint of the business, and work on this has been going on for several years now. This work affects a number of different areas of the business: Firstly, Restaurant Operations. Energy makes up about 80% of our restaurant’s operating carbon footprint in the UK, which makes this the main target for reduction. McDonald's has been investing in many different energy efficient technologies and has trained its 85,000 staff in the use of energy efficient practices. Together these have resulted in reductions in underlying electricity consumption during 2010 (once increased sales and opening hours have been factored out) of over 10%, the equivalent to a saving of over 30,000 tonnes of CO2. Other measures McDonald's has taken include recycling all its used cooking oil into bio-diesel to power its distribution fleet, backhauling over 80% of its cardboard and rolling out 'energy from waste' across the estate over the next two years so that the waste fraction that is not separated will go to incineration to provide electricity for the grid. The pilot projects for this, in Sheffield and London, have reduced carbon emissions from waste processing by 54% and 48% respectively (as measured by the Carbon Trust).
The second major area is Supply Chain. Here one of the company's major contributors is beef production. McDonald's believes there is an opportunity to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the production of beef and is keen to be at the forefront in developing the know-how in order to make those reductions on a large scale. The Eco2 Project - an independent rural consultancy and energy auditing company - has rolled out a major project for McDonald’s as we are one of Europe’s largest beef buyers. The programme will use the world’s most sophisticated on-farm greenhouse gas calculator, developed by Eco2 and accredited by The Carbon Trust, to measure each farm’s emissions. A total of 350 beef farms in the UK and Ireland were visited by April 2010, and specialist consultants will continue to work with the farmers to help them bring reductions through natural farming practices and supply chain efficiencies.
On the recycling front, McDonald’s recycles approximately a quarter of all waste produced at most restaurants through the separation of cardboard and used cooking oil. The problem, which McDonald’s face, is that much of the waste produced in the restaurants, is ‘food-contaminated’, providing a challenge in discovering an appropriate method in terms of recycling. McDonald’s is running permanent pilots where 11 restaurants send their waste to an energy waste facility that generates energy to be used for heating and powering local buildings. This project was so successful for food-contaminated waste that McDonald’s are now looking to expand this project to other parts of the country where the facilities exist.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 15. what are macdonald's advantages and what environmental threats might it face over the next ten years and how could it prepare for these threats?
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McDonald’s is a well established company with a highly recognised brand with a loyal customer base around the world. McDonald’s always strives to provide its customers with great tasting food, wide choice and great value. With careful attention to detail, and extensive research into the wants and tastes of its customers and the use of various media and marketing techniques, McDonald’s has cultivated an image and brand that gives millions of customers every day a great place to eat, socialise and have a great experience. We suggest you download one of McDonald’s Information Packs at www.mcdonalds.co.uk/people/schools-and-students/schools-and-students.shtml to give you more information on the company.
As for your second question: Environmental issues are always changing, McDonald’s recognises the need to protect and preserve the environment and has analysed every aspect of the business about the impact on the environment. As a result of this, environmental action plans have been developed to address these issues. For example, McDonald’s has a policy of sourcing its food as close to home as possible, with approximately 70 percent of the company’s food coming from the UK and Ireland.
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