McDonald's Germany sets new standards for the industry: No more disposable plastic lids and drinking straws from now on!

In the coming weeks, the disposable plastic lids for cold and hot drinks will leave McDonald's restaurants in Germany. This change alone will save the company more than 560 tonnes of plastic per year. Takeaway orders are provided with a new paper lid that has an integrated opening for drinking. This means that in future, guests will be able to get their soft drinks without a paper drinking straw, which means a further saving of around 430 tonnes of paper a year. In addition, the last purely disposable plastic cups for iced coffee shakes and co. are now also being replaced by the McDonald's paper cup and will receive a special dome lid made of paper fibres. While all existing leftover packaging will be dispensed in the restaurants in the coming weeks, these conversions will take place gradually throughout Germany. "At McDonald's, we want to become better and better and have already done a lot to achieve this. In doing so, it is our job as diners to make it as easy as possible for our approximately 1.5 million German guests every day to be part of the solution. An important step on this journey for us is the switch from plastic to paper in order to increasingly close recycling loops," explains Diana Wicht, Supply Chain Lead at McDonald's Germany. Today, 100 per cent of the paper waste generated in McDonald's restaurants in Germany is already recycled.

The McDonald's plan for less waste and plastic
The measures to reduce waste and packaging are part of McDonald's Germany's comprehensive sustainability strategy. To this end, the company launched its packaging roadmap in 2019 and, as part of this, is switching more and more packaging to plastic-free and plastic-reduced alternatives. As a result, more than 3,600 tonnes of plastic have already been saved in the period up to 31 December 2022. In addition to the introduction of its own returnable deposit system for beverages and ice cream at the end of last year, McDonald's also relies on its own recycling system for disposable beverage cups and works continuously on optimising its existing packaging. The goal: By 2025, all primary guest packaging for burgers, fries & co. worldwide should come from 100 per cent renewable, recycled or sustainably certified sources. McDonald's Germany presents all progress and goals in the area of sustainability on its "Better M" platform.

Better together
As the market leader in system catering with around 1,450 restaurants and around 65,000 employees in Germany alone, McDonald's can make a real difference. The company is convinced that real change does not work on its own. In order to promote dialogue about more sustainable packaging solutions beyond company boundaries, McDonald's Germany is an active partner of THE MISSION Waste 2023. In addition, the company is planning its own format in the summer of 2023 for discourse at eye level with guests, employees, stakeholders, the media and, above all, critics. In order to fulfil its responsibility beyond its restaurants, McDonald's Germany supports the recycling initiative #itsyourpart as a cooperation partner.