McDonald’s and their continued use of plastic

Just had a cheeky breakfast and noted, tommy k still in plastic, lid to tea still plastic, straws still plastic. I would gave thought given the resources and buying power that tbey have they would have removed nigh on all single use plastic by now. Do they just not gaf?

They do.

Almost all the food comes in paper boxes; ketchup is mostly in paper cups, all drinks in paper (ok so it’s not recyclable but paper is a renewable resource), straws are paper in our place, delivery trucks run on waste oil (if their advertising is to be believed).

I’ve used a couple of different McDs recently and both had paper straws. Maybe the one you used is still running down stocks? Plastic tubs of sauce still being handed out though as you say, but at the same time to paper tubs setup is also in place. Plastic lid I can imagine might be tricky, not sure I’ve seen an alternative?

TBH, I don’t think McDs are the bad guys when it comes to this sort of thing.

Sausage and Egg McMuffins with cheese could be wrapped in plastic made form the eyeballls of baby chimps for all I care, I would still monster one down and enjoy every single calorie in the process. Mmmmmmnonmnomnom

lid to tea still plastic

What would you make it out of? It has to seal fairly tightly so it doesn’t come off and dump a load of hot drink onto someone’s lap. If you’re eating in the store, the waste will be sorted and recycled as much as possible. If you’re driving to the store, the petrol you burn will be massively more wasteful than the tiny amount of plastic in the lid of a cup.

My local coffee shop uses Vegware lids made from plant-based CPLA

https://www.vegware.com/pla-hot-cup-extras/cat_7.html

Maybe the one you used is still running down stocks?

Makes sense, it’d be far less eco-friendly to just throw it all away.

If you’re worried about the environment, not eating McD’s would be better than eating McD’s with conscience-salving paper wrappers.

All you really need to do is dispose of the packaging out of the car window like a lot of folk.

Someone else will pick it up won’t they.

🤷‍♂️

My local coffee shop uses Vegware lids made from plant-based CPLA

Our hot cup lids are made from plant-based CPLA, which is 67% lower in carbon than plastic. They’re heat resistant up to 85°C, with a tight fit and sleek design.

AFAIK, 90 degrees C is the standard temperature for brewing coffee. No idea what McD’s standard for serving it is, but I suspect corporate lawyers would not sign off on a lid that is only certified for 85 degrees if the coffee was brewed at a higher temperature.

I really, really fancy a sausage and egg McMuffin now.

If someone I could only have one if I emptied a supertanker full of crude oil into a nature reserve then machine gun some kittens, I’d happily do it

The fact that nobody has mentioned a double sausage and egg mcmuffin is making me wonder if I need to look at some of my life choices……

No idea what McD’s standard for serving it is

if they (or anyone!) are serving coffee at 90 degrees a slightly melty lid is gonna be the least of their lawsuit worries 😂😂😂

In a sad work way I was at the packaging show at the NEC last month, was quite an eye opener really, on one side we had all the new packing materials and biodegradable stuff along with the plastic is evil, on the other PLASTIC PLASTIC PLASTIC everythings!!

It’s truly a massive industry with plenty of people still working on the 0.1p/item saving before any environmental concern gets a look in.

The good news is though that there are lots of new products coming to market to try and make things a lot better.

The fact that nobody has mentioned a double sausage and egg mcmuffin is making me wonder if I need to look at some of my life choices……

I just take it as read that its a double. Has anyone ever bought a single one? If so, they need to take a long, hard look at themselves

All take away packaging should be degradable.

AFAIK, 90 degrees C is the standard temperature for brewing coffee. No idea what McD’s standard for serving it is, but I suspect corporate lawyers would not sign off on a lid that is only certified for 85 degrees if the coffee was brewed at a higher temperature.

It’ll be lower now, they were famously sued in the US when one of their customers put a cup between her legs so she could drive and got terrible burns when it spilt.

Has anyone ever bought a single one? If so, they need to take a long, hard look at themselves

Acceptable when you get 2 x Single meals, so you can double up on the hash-browns and get a coffee and a OJ.
RM*.
* – not Ronald McDonald.

if they (or anyone!) are serving coffee at 90 degrees a slightly melty lid is gonna be the least of their lawsuit worries

I had a cup of coffee in a place in Korea (Lotteria, maybe), that burned my lips and tongue. Holy crap it was hot, tasted vile too, my guess is that it was brewed with boiling water. Thing is that lawyers will always take the cautious route and if the coffee is brewed at 90 degrees, they may insist that the lids be able to withstand that temperature just in case it gets served at that temperature by mistake even if it is normally served at 70 degrees or something.

Well this is now getting interesting (unlike all that environmental stuff. Who needs an “environment” anyway??).

Doubling up on single meals would allow a hash brown sandwich to come into play…..

The fact that nobody has mentioned a double sausage and egg mcmuffin is making me wonder if I need to look at some of my life choices……

you do, when you go to the self service machines now you can add extra bacon and sauasge! triple sausage and bacon egg mcmuffin for the win!

What they could do is get rid of the shit plastic toys that come with Happy Meals, 90% of them will be in the bin by the end of the week.

Hash brown is in the breakfast wrap, but it’s a wrap not a muffin.
As for my green credentials stopping the odd nice breakfast is not going to happen, and yes i did drive there, in a nasty chokey diesel of all things.
The op was just musings about plastic nothing more or less.

My plastic waste wheelie bin is a challenge to compact every month, which is sad. We eat a lot of soft fruit, the amount of packaging involved is ridiculous.

My local one has been on paper straws for around 2 months now, I guess they’re rolling them out.

they were famously sued in the US when one of their customers put a cup between her legs so she could drive and got terrible burns when it spilt

A burnt McMuffin? I’m loving it.

If only they would take the plastic out of the ‘food’ 😀

What sort of pervert would choose a single sausage McMuffin? That sickens me.
#prayforSingleMcMuffinWierdos

Tasteless muck.

Just had a cheeky breakfast and noted, tommy k still in plastic, lid to tea still plastic, straws still plastic. I would gave thought given the resources and buying power that tbey have they would have removed nigh on all single use plastic by now. Do they just not gaf?

Plastic isn’t necessarily evil, and it certainly isn’t necessarily more evil than other alternatives which (by being plastic free might present themselves as better). https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/news/2018/a-plastic-ban-could-increase-damage-to.htm . If you don’t want plastics in the oceans it may be better to make sure that waste doesn’t end up in our oceans rather than deciding that substituting plastic for material that has other downsides.

Even assuming there are great alternatives available:
1. Are McD in long term contracts with their suppliers – almost certainly
2. Are the alternative product/suppliers able to deliver the scale up necessary for McD volumes?
3. If you were going to change your packaging suppliers would you do all of them at once or use a phased approach? Would you pilot it first?
4. If you have stock in store, or in warehouses you’d want to use that up first. Some McDs are actually franchises so will be less easily controlled.

A very apt username…. 🙂

One sausage and egg muffin?
Bloody amateurs…..

This year’s one and only hangover was only solved by four of the lovely little things.

The doubles are an abomination – ruins the ratio of sausage to egg.

Getting rid of single use plastic for mcdonalds is impossible.

Normal cheese would be weird.

Just had a cheeky breakfast

AAMOI, what makes a breakfast “cheeky”? In what way does it differ from a non-cheeky (respectful?) breakfast?

Nobeerinthefridge

Subscriber
Tasteless muck.

to be fair to McDonalds, you’re not really meant to eat the plastic

Would probably taste better.

Have you ever actually had a double sausage and egg McMuffin, fella? Washed down with a pint of full fat coke? Tis a thing of joy and wonder. Nothing on gods earth can shift a hangover faster than that.

I remember being introduced to them on the way to an early meeting with a client after we’d ill-advisedly spent all evening in the pub the night before. It was a revelation 😀

Yes, it left a taste in my mouth akin to the smell of summit you’d clean the scaffolders block toilet with!.

You’d clearly not had enough to drink the previous evening 😉