McDonald's - Styrofoam Packaging

Pioneering partnership reduces waste, conserves resources

It wasn't your typical trip to McDonald's. When Fred Krupp, executive director of Environmental Defense, first met with Ed Resni, then president of McDonald's, the idea was to see if working together could benefit the environment without affecting the company's bottom line. That initial meeting led to follow-ups, which prompted tours of McDonald's facilities by other Environmental Defense staff, and soon a working relationship was forged. 

For six months, our staff studied the fast-food giant's operations, and our final recommendations and the company's commitments far exceeded our original goals. The resulting Waste Reduction Policy meant significant environmental savings for the fast-food giant without additional costs.

Public concern about solid waste

This partnership work began against a backdrop of high public concern over solid waste disposal, of which food packaging was a highly visible component.

Since throwaway food packaging was not going away, the project team's challenge was to reduce its impact on the environment in ways that also made business sense. And because McDonald's was not the only player in this industry, Environmental Defense wanted to create a model approach that could be used by other companies.

Goals

• Recommend waste-reducing and conservation options for McDonald's to consider:
  • Source reduction: using less material
  • Reuse: introducing reusables throughout the supply chain
  • Recycling: return materials to productive use
  • Composting: recycling organic materials when possible

After examining McDonald's operations — including the distribution and supply chain — the project team focused on the disposable materials discarded by staffers behind the counter, tossed by customers in the restaurant lobby bins, and used in McDonald's take-out business.

Cleaning up 'behind the counter'

Studies have shown that almost 80 percent of McDonald's on-premise waste, by weight, is generated "behind the counter," in the preparation area and in the restaurant supply system. Many of these waste materials, such as corrugated boxes, became prime candidates for source reduction and recycling. Behind-the-counter waste could also be reduced by substituting reusable bulk storage systems for disposable ones.

Packaging materials used by take-out and drive-through customers (50-70 percent of the business, depending on a restaurant's location) cannot easily be collected by in-store recycling programs initiated by McDonald's. For these items, source-reduction steps and design changes that increase postconsumer recycled content and that allow packaging to go into community recycling programs deliver the greatest environmental benefits.

Results

• Switched from polystyrene foam "clamshells" to paper-based wraps for its sandwich packaging, providing a 70-90% reduction in sandwich packaging volume, reducing landfill space, energy used and pollutant releases over the lifecycle of the package
• Converted to unbleached paper carry-out bags, coffee filters and Big Mac wraps
• Reduced paper use by 21% in napkins, and incorporated 30% postconsumer recycled content
• Asked suppliers to incorporate 35% postconsumer recycled content into all corrugated shipping boxes

Ripple Effects

Finding value in cutting waste:

• In 1999 McDonald's announced that it had reduced 510 million kilowatt-hours through energy efficiency improvements in its stores and created a "buy recycled" program, purchasing nearly $3 billion in products containing recycled materials.
• Having seen the strategic value of environmental innovation, the company continues to explore new avenues.
• In the decade following the partnership, McDonald's has continued to implement the team’s suggestions. It has:
  • eliminated over 300 million pounds of packaging, enough to keep Peoria, Illinois trash-free for 10 years;
  • recycled 1 million tons of corrugated boxes, reducing restaurant waste by 30 percent.

The task force concluded that there is no single method for minimizing solid waste at McDonald's, but there are numerous solutions that, collectively employed, achieve significant environmental benefits.  For more information, read the task force's final report.

Posted: 20-Jul-2007; Updated: 14-Sep-2009