McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys Are Going Green, Pastic Use To Be ‘Drastically’ Cut By 2025

McDonald’s says the transition to more sustainable Happy Meal toys is already complete in France, and is under way in UK and Ireland

The McDonald's Happy Meal toys under development | Photo: mcdonalds.com

New Delhi: US-based fast-food chain McDonald’s plans to "drastically" reduce the use of plastic in their Happy Meal toys by 2025. The company has said it aims to make more sustainable toys, using bio-based and plant-derived materials and certified fibre, which can be recycled.

McDonad’s has been selling Happy Meals worldwide for 40 years now. 

“Transitioning to more renewable, recycled, and certified materials for our Happy Meal toys will result in an approximately 90% reduction in virgin fossil fuel-based plastic use against a 2018 baseline,” Jenny McColloch, the company’s chief sustainability officer, said in a statement.

“The average person uses more than 220 pounds of plastic annually, so this is equivalent to more than 650,000 individuals eliminating plastics from their lives each year,” she added.

McDonald's sells over 1 billion toys as part of Happy Meals every year, according to reports.

The company said it is reducing plastics in all the games, action heroes and collectibles that it offers with a Happy Meal pack.

It said the transition to more sustainable Happy Meal toys is already complete in France, and is under way in the UK and Ireland. 

“Efforts around the world...have resulted already in a 30% reduction in virgin fossil fuel based plastic use since 2018.”

Efforts Towards Sustainability  

The company said it is now exploring ways to replace the final traces of virgin plastics in inks and laminates. 

“This feels a lot more consequential when it means matching the color scheme of your favorite movie characters, or creating construction materials strong enough to build a towering T-Rex that holds up throughout even the most rambunctious play time,” McColloch said. 

McDonald’s claims that over 80 per cent of the guest packaging sourced for its restaurants is made of fiber sources, and the remaining 20 per cent is made of plastic.

In total, it says, 80 per cent of its guest packaging came from renewable, recycled or certified sources.