McDonald's to open country's first 'Green Concept Restaurant' in Ontario

Jun 19 2019, 10:43 pm

McDonald’s is about to bring something brand new to Ontario.

As part of the fast-food giant’s journey towards making its packaging more sustainable and reducing its environmental footprint, the company will unveil two “Green Concept Restaurants.”

One of the eateries will be in London, Ontario and the other will open in Vancouver.Ā These restaurants will serve as incubator locations to test new packaging options and recycling initiatives.

The Green Concept Restaurants will continue to use a lot of the current McDonald’s packaging, but will also test items that have the potential to be rolled out more widely down the line.

The first innovations will begin testing in the coming months, and they include:

  • A fully re-pulpable cup for cold beverages ā€“ a Canadian quick service restaurant (QSR) first. The cup uses an aqueous coating that is acceptable in recycling streams. A medium size cup will be tested
  • New fibre lids ā€“ another Canadian QSR first. The lids areĀ made from 100% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood fibre and are recyclable. The lid will also help reduce straw use, as guests can sip from it directly. They’ll be tested on all three cold cup sizes.
  • Wooden cutlery
  • Wooden stir sticks
  • Paper straws
See also

Globally, McDonald’s is working to offer guests more sustainable packaging and reduce overall waste.

According to a release, a series of immediate enhancements, along with changes made over recent years, will remove more than 1,500 tons of packaging materials from the McDonald’s Canada system:

  • Napkins: Introducing a smaller napkin (20% smaller) produced with 100% recycled fibre in all restaurants, which eliminates more than 900 tons of paper.
  • McWrap carton: Transitioning from a McWrap carton to a McWrap wrap will eliminate more than 400 tons of packaging.
  • Foam: Eliminated foam from the gravy bowl and breakfast platter, removing more than 130 tons of foam.
  • Small Coffee Cup: The lightweighting of the small hot cup ā€“ removing paper from the outer layer of the cup ā€“ eliminated more than 123 tons of paper.
  • Added a How 2 Recycle (H2R) label to Happy Meal boxes, clear cups, and carryout bags to help guests determine how packaging can be recycled.

“Our Green Concept Restaurants are an exciting new innovation as part of our on-going sustainable journey,”Ā says John Betts, president and CEO at McDonald’s Canada in a release.

The two Green Concept Restaurants will be located at 1033 Wonderland Road South in London, Ontario and 3444 E Hastings Street in Vancouver.

McDonald’s has a goal to ensure that 100% of fibre-based packaging is sourced from recycled or certified sources by 2020. Globally, the company has promised that by 2025, 100% of the restaurant’s guest packaging will come from renewable, recycled, or certified sources.

Also by that year, the company has set a goal to recycle guest packaging in every restaurant.

DH Toronto StaffDH Toronto Staff

+ Dished
+ Food News
ADVERTISEMENT