Following the new brand concept "Do your best because of love" released in May this year, McDonald's China today announced the first environmental measure under this concept: the company will further reduce the amount of food in food packaging. plastic and phase out the use of plastic straws. Starting from June 30, nearly 1,000 restaurants in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen have taken the lead in implementation. Consumers can drink solid-free cold drinks (such as Coke) directly through the new cup lid. By 2020, relevant plastic emission reduction measures will cover all restaurants in mainland China. By then, it is estimated that plastic consumption will be reduced by approximately 400 tons per year.
McDonald’s China CEO Zhang Jiayin said: “McDonald’s provides more than just delicious food and service. We also love our community and environment and strive to build a "beautiful China". We've always believed that leveraging McDonald's scale and taking a "small step" to reduce straws can also be a "big step" for sustainability. In the past ten years, we started the "green packaging" movement in 2007 and took the lead in replacing plastic bags with paper bags, reducing the number of plastic bags by more than 2.5 billion. In 2010, we changed McFlurry to paper cup packaging. More than 500 million plastic cups have been eliminated; in 2015, the size of cutlery and forks was optimized, reducing plastic consumption by about 10%. By 2020, all of our paper packaging will be 100% sourced from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified raw paper. ?
Xu Guang, chairman of the China Environmental Protection Foundation, said: ?Reducing plastic is an important measure to protect the ecological environment, and it is also an urgent need for sustainable development. McDonald's initiative to reduce plastic straws has guided many consumers to adjust their consumption habits, played an active role in promoting plastic reduction, and made a great positive contribution to protecting the ecological environment. Ecological environmental protection actually requires the joint participation and action of enterprises and the public. We should all start from ourselves and help build a "beautiful China"
Jiang Nanqing, former project officer of the United Nations Environment Program Representative Office in China and Secretary-General of the Plastic Recycling Branch of the China Synthetic Resin Association, said:? Plastic reduction is one of the urgent issues in sustainable development. Plastic straws are difficult to recycle because of their small size. Even if they are not handled properly, they will pose a great threat to the ecological environment. McDonald's positive action to reduce plastic straws will play a positive role in the whole society's joint action to reduce plastic. ?