McDonald's serves up 1.2 billion Happy Meals each year -- that's a lot of toys that, for the most part, will be played with for just a few minutes and thrown away. Urge McDonald's to cut back on plastic waste by phasing out plastic toys in their Happy Meals today. TAKE ACTION:
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Anonymous,
As the planet chokes on an ever-increasing amount of plastic waste, we need to cut back our plastic use everywhere we can.
McDonald's has already made commitments to phase out some plastic in its restaurants: It stopped using foam packaging in 2018.[1] As the world's largest restaurant chain, McDonald's sustainability choices make a huge impact on the industry.
Next, McDonald's needs to phase out plastic Happy Meal toys in favor of sustainable alternatives. McDonald's serves up 1.2 billion Happy Meals each year -- that's a lot of toys that, for the most part, will be played with for just a few minutes and thrown away.[2]
Urge McDonald's to commit to phasing out plastic toys in their Happy Meals today.
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Every last piece of plastic we can cut back on helps when you consider the scale of the plastic pollution crisis.
Picture a mound of plastic trash as heavy as the Empire State Building. Now imagine if one-third of Manhattan were covered in those massive plastic skyscrapers. That plastic city would represent how much plastic has ended up in landfills or our environment since 1950: 6 billion tons of it.[3]
Every plastic item we use just once and throw away contributes to that ever-growing heap, especially since less than 5 percent of plastics in the U.S. are recycled.[4]
McDonald's has already started to become more sustainable. Happy Meal toys are a perfect next step. Ask McDonald's to continue to lead the way and phase out plastic toys.
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U.S. PIRG supporters like you have made a difference when it comes to transforming business practices at McDonald's before. Together, we convinced McDonald's to stop selling chicken and to reduce the amount of beef raised on medically important antibiotics -- an important step to protect public health and keep our lifesaving medicines effective.[5,6]
That's why we know that, when we speak up, McDonald's listens. Let's raise our voices together again to convince McDonald's to be a leader and cut back on plastic waste.
Add your name today.
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Thank you,
Faye Park
President
1. "Thinking circular with more sustainable Packaging and Recycling," McDonald's, last accessed July 31, 2019.
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2. Karin Klein, "Op-Ed: The problem with Happy Meals isn't the food," L.A. Times, February 23, 2018.
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3. Stephen Leahy, "Microplastics are raining down from the sky," National Geographic, April 15, 2019.
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4. "U.S. Plastic Recycling Rate Projected to Drop to 4.4% in 2018," Waste 360, October 5, 2018.
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5. Allison Aubrey, "McDonald's Now Serving Chicken Raised Without Antibiotics -- Mostly," NPR, August 2, 2016.
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6. Tom Polansek, "McDonald's to curb antibiotic use in its beef supply," Reuters, December 11, 2018.
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