McDonalds Working With 10 “Green” Restaurant Models

Two article's posted at Environmental Leader and Daily Finance McDonalds discusses their efforts to become more “green.” For many of us the definition of “green” means many different things, but we should give McDonalds props for taking this effort on. They indicate many great initiatives such as composting and reducing waste. We do have one small issue though. In the article McDonalds indicated that biodegradable packaging applications proved fruitless. True bioplastic does not have applications that could suit the volume of food that comes out of a McDonalds on any given day, but why not look at other applications for this wonderful product (O.K. we are a little bias towards bioplastic).

But why slam a product like bioplastic without speaking to other non-packaging applications? How many plastic forks, knifes or spoons do you think they utilize? We don’t know either, and cannot begin to imagine, but it would be cool to know what the opportunity is.

Georgia Pacific recently indicated they will start utilizing Cereplast’s bio-wax on its Dixie-cup® brands.

McDonalds could be the driver for greater use of a bio-wax for the millions of soda and cold drinks they sell in paper cups? Or how about the straws we put in there? Then add little nuggets of information on the straw regarding the economic and environmental benefits of utilizing a sustainable feedstock produced in the United States.

It would be pretty cool if the kids eating their happy meals had the opportunity to use a bioplastic straw, or drink their milk out of a bioplastic container then could separate that trash so McD’s can compost the waste.

Look we are not trying to make life difficult for McDonalds, but we are trying to say that they can be a driver like Wal-Mart for greater innovation utilizing a feedstock that supports the full supply chain in the United States.