McDonald’s to cut plastic waste with lidless McFlurry

McDonald’s is to cut its single-use plastic waste by removing the plastic lids from its McFlurry packaging, in a move that will reduce plastic waste by 383 tonnes per year.

This comes alongside further reforms that will see all single-use removed from all McDonald’s salads, which will be replaced with 100 per cent renewable and recyclable cardboard containers.

These containers are made from ‘carton board’, which contains 50 per cent recycled content and 50 per cent new, which itself comes from certified sustainable sources.

Beth Hart, Supply Chain Director for McDonald’s UK and Ireland, said: “Removing plastic lids from the McFlurry, and introducing new cardboard packaging for salads, will save nearly 500 tonnes of plastic per year. It’s the latest step in our sustainability journey.”

“We continue to look for solutions for our cutlery and lids, for example, but this is great progress. For us, sustainability is about more than just packaging. We have to look at the whole journey, and by 2030 we’re committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 36 per cent.”